Science
Dr Peter Ridd – the Data Obliterated From Science History
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Coronavirus Lockdown Reduced Seismic Activity around the World – New Study
Paula Koelemeijer Royal Holloway Stephen Hicks Imperial College London Seismic activity doesn’t just come from earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. Everyday human activity also gives rise to vibrations that travel through the ground as seismic waves, something we call “anthropogenic noise”. When pandemic lockdown measures brought daily life to a
Where Did We Come From?
It’s become a well-worn cliche that we are all made of stardust. The realisation by cosmologists that every atom of heavier elements like carbon in the universe was transmuted in the core of stars has prompted as much romance as it has science. But it remains true, for all
They’re Coming for the Scientists
Early this year, B.C. (Before Covid), I was talking to a friend in his early thirties who had recently returned to university, studying science. He remarked that he had thought that all the talk of far-left orthodoxy on campus was an exaggeration. To his dismay, he found otherwise. “I
NZ Govt Confirms It Won’t Test for Virus Prevalence
Press Release covidplanb.co.nz The Government has formally confirmed that it will not use any of the current or future serology tests to assess how widespread the Covid19 disease has been in New Zealand. In answer to an Official Information Request by the Covid Plan B group, the Director
Postcard from Canada: July 07
Geoffrey Corfield Geoffrey Corfield has been active in Conservative politics in Canada since 1976, both federally and provincially. But he won’t always write about politics because he has more experience with writing history and humour. He lives in London, Ontario, frequents used book shops, swims lengths, drinks beer, plays
What the Latest Science Says about New Zealand’s COVID-19 Policy
Simon Thornley Gerhard Sundborn covidplanb.co.nz With a smattering of new cases emerging from returnees in hotels prompting both sides of the house to double down on our tight quarantine the key question is coming into focus: where does our nation go from here? Sir Peter Gluckman, Rob Fyfe
Fast COVID-19 Vaccine Timelines Are Unrealistic and Put the Integrity of Scientists at Risk
Byram W. Bridle University of Guelph Shayan Sharif University of Guelph The average times of the fastest sprinters in the 100-metre dash are in the ballpark of 10 seconds. So, what would you think if someone promised to run the race in one second? It typically takes a minimum of
How Not to Get Fooled: Graphs
Data visualisations – “graphs”, to the unitiated – have been an incredibly useful tool for cutting through the fog of bias and misunderstanding to get at the facts. One of the most famous early data visualisations was John Snow’s graph plotting every case in the infamous Broad Street cholera outbreak of
The BFD Video: Virus Vs. White Supremacists
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The Race for Private Enterprise Space
I grew up on science fiction stories like Robert Heinlein’s Rocketship Galileo, the story of a plucky band of tech-savvy entrepreneurs (teenagers, no less – plus one token adult, their physicist uncle) who build a pioneering moon-rocket. It’s stirring stuff, complete with Space Nazis (it was written in the
An Open Letter on the “Science” of the Coronavirus Pandemic
[Editors Note: This is an English translation of the original letter so some of the phrases are not quite right] The “science” of the Pandemic During this pandemic, the term “science” has been used “ad nauseam”, that is, has been repeated to exhaustion: “Science, science, science”, “I’m pro-science”, “For
Utter Nonsense in a Medical Journal
The once-esteemed Lancet has long taken a leftward-bent trajectory and that’s why, call me cynical if you like, before reading any editorial content published by the outfit I recommend a grain of salt at the ready. In the course of the last week-and-a-bit, that journal of medicine published two
It Really Is Plant Food
Way back when, when I was still wet enough behind the ears to be a fully-fledged catastrophic climate change believer (yes, readers – my secret shame is laid bare!), the fossil fuel lobby released an ad praising carbon dioxide. “They call it pollution. We call it life,” went the tag line,
Siouxie Does Facts
On Monday I was enlightened by Siouxie, ‘cos Siouxie does facts, and this week she informed us that “Videos like these are endangering lives”. What videos, you may ask? Videos recommending the use of power saws for haircuts, perhaps? Videos with instructions for making gunpowder in your bedroom? Well; no.