We keep hearing more and more cases where ‘bad science’ gets uncovered. Here is a really cool infographic by the folks at Clinical Psychology. It goes along with some things I mentioned in a post about the role of ignorance in science. All of the incentives seem to be setting the system up for biasedRead More
Month: May 2012
Women are cheaters too. A look into female extra-pair copulations with other males
Sometimes, females will sneak off and copulate with males who might have better genes, while their normal mate is a better father (in terms of effort, territory and resources). The theory is that the females do this as a way to potentially increase the quality of her offspring (if some happen to be fathered byRead More
What’s the role of “ignorance” in science?
Stuart Firestein was the guest speaker at this month’s Secret Science Club. His area of research is neuroscience and the olfactory system, but at this talk he discussed his ideas on ignorance and how it is important for driving scientific research. Ignorance, according to Firestein, is what drives science because discoveries do not happen asRead More
Converting, Passing, Covering (Book Review)
I’ve done it. I’ve downplayed something about myself to give off a different or specific image of myself to others. I just never knew there was a word for it. It’s called “covering,” and it has deeper implications than we may think. My book club read a few months ago a book by that name,Read More
The most high profile conference I’ve ever been to
Today is the second day of the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s advisory body, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), in its 16th meeting (SBSTTA 16). This body makes recommendations for implementation of the Convention. There is an estimated 600 people here, with delegates and parties representing aroundRead More