While the Republican Party and conservatives, in general, are supporting bills in many states attacking transgender treatment (link), the largest satisfaction survey of individuals who have received transgender treatment was just released. The bottom line is that they are overwhelmingly satisfied with the results of their treatment. Click on this link for a 3-minute video presenting the details. Just another example of anti-expert/anti-science from the Republican Party.
Human knowledge has progressed exponentially since the dawn of modern science. It is no longer reasonable to accept claims without sufficient objective evidence. The harm from religion, alternatives to medicine, conservatism, and all other false beliefs will be exposed on this blog by reporting the findings of science. This blog will also reinforce what should be the basics of education: History, Civics, Financial Literacy, Media Literacy, and Critical/Science Based Thinking.
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Resurrecting Extinct Animals
Monday, December 18, 2023
Psychological Science: A Key To Understanding And Combating Health Misinformation
- RECOMMENDATION 1 Avoid repeating misinformation without including a correction.
- RECOMMENDATION 2 Collaborate with social media companies to understand and reduce the spread of harmful misinformation.
- RECOMMENDATION 3 Use misinformation correction strategies with tools already proven to promote healthy behaviors
- RECOMMENDATION 4 Leverage trusted sources to counter misinformation and provide accurate health information.
- RECOMMENDATION 5 Debunk misinformation often and repeatedly using evidence-based methods.
- RECOMMENDATION 6 Prebunk misinformation to inoculate susceptible audiences by building skills and resilience from an early age.
- RECOMMENDATION 7 Demand data access and transparency from social media companies for scientific research on misinformation
- RECOMMENDATION 8 Fund basic and translational research into the psychology of health misinformation, including effective ways to counter it.
Click on the link below for the full 44-page American Psychological Association Consensus Statement:
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Happiness Research
Click on the link below for the results of the longest-running study on happiness:
What The Longest-Running Study on Happiness RevealsSaturday, November 11, 2023
Animal Studies In Psychology
Friday, September 29, 2023
Wikipedia: Can YOU Handle The Truth?
I have commented several times regarding the value of Wikipedia, and its limitations. Click on the link below for a scholarly opinion on it. My bottom line: it is excellent IF you take the second step: click on the research presented on each claim pertinent to your search:
“Wikipedia Is the Most Accurate Form of Information Ever Created”Tuesday, August 29, 2023
"I Did My Own Research"
This is what one can hear or read from the anti-science folks. However, if one is a science-based thinker, one does need the proper methods and tools to find out what is the scientific consensus on any topic. Click on the link below for a video by Sabine Hossenfelder outlining a step-by-step process for the non-scientist/researcher:
Do your own research, but do it right
For starters:
- Be knowledgeable about the elements of scientific research
- Don't cherry-pick
- Never trust 2nd-hand sources - - - but look at them anyway
- If there is data, look at it and don't trust the text
Monday, May 8, 2023
Beware Of Sex/Gender Studies Supported By Conservatives
Thursday, April 6, 2023
A Simple Way To Tell If Someone Is Lying?
"If a person provides rich descriptions of who, what, when, how, and why, it's likely they are telling the truth. If they skim over these details, they are probably lying.
"Using this very simple test and nothing else, people can separate truth from lies with nearly 80 percent accuracy, researchers from the University of Amsterdam have found."
Monday, January 23, 2023
Heros, Empathy, Apathy, And The Brain
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Be Aware Of Where "Statistics" Are From
"A correspondent asked for my opinion about a study that he said has been appearing widely on COVID-19 vaccine disinformation sites with claims that it proves that the vaccines are not safe or that it shows there is ' - - - a 300% greater chance of landing in the hospital from the vaccine than from Covid itself.' I read the study. In the first place, I don’t think it showed any such thing. In the second place, there were several things about the study that made me distrust it: - - - "(STATISTICAL SHENANIGANS?)
Saturday, August 27, 2022
A Reminder: Your Brain Alone Is Not Reliable
Regarding consumer products, including food from GMOs, unfortunately, there is a strong unsupported conspiracy theory that for-profit corporations cannot perform unbiased scientific studies. Should we ignore any research funded by companies or special interest groups? Certainly not. These groups provide invaluable funding for scientific research. Furthermore, science has many safeguards in place to catch instances of bias that affect research outcomes. Ultimately, misleading results will be corrected as science proceeds. (link)(link)
Thursday, May 5, 2022
The Evidence Is Clear Regarding The Social Effects Of Abortion
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Reporting Of Early Scientific Research
Sunday, December 5, 2021
A Lesson In Accepting Claims
The anti-vaccine crowd is touting the results of an Israeli study that found that natural immunity post-COVID-19 infection was much more effective against the Delta variant than two doses of vaccine (link). However, they ignore the very important recommendation of getting vaccinated anyway! In addition, this was just ONE study narrowing in on the Delta variant.
If one were to do their homework on the issue, one would easily find several studies supporting vaccine being superior to natural immunity (link)(link)(link).
Science-based thinkers do not "cherry-pick" their research.
Saturday, October 30, 2021
How To Confirm Your Bias In Research
There are many ways to pervert scientific research in an attempt to confirm your biases. Click on the links below for an example of how it's done and how to call bogus on it:
Lisa Littman's Bogus Trans Studies, Part 1Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Even Scientists Can Be Unscientific
Saturday, March 20, 2021
An Objective Look At The Effects Of Religion
There is a lot of media reporting regarding the benefits of religion. When one looks deeper into the research on the subject, one finds poor quality. The positive effects of religion are probably placebo and the benefit of social support, which is not necessarily only found in a religious group. Below is a recent analysis of studies on the subject:
Being "Godless" might be good for your health, a new study finds
Another way to look at the effects of religion is to look at the correlation between the more religious US states and countries of the world and happiness and well-being (link). The quality of life is better in the least religious and most socialistic states and countries.
Friday, March 5, 2021
Research Into Chiropractic Come Up Short
"In the cases of asthma, infant colic, autism spectrum disorder, gastrointestinal problems, fibromyalgia, back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome, there was no conclusive scientific evidence." (link)
"Although the major reason for pediatric patients to attend a chiropractor is spinal pain, no adequate studies have been performed in this area. It is time for the chiropractic profession to take responsibility and systematically investigate the efficiency of joint manipulation of problems relating to the developing musculoskeletal system." (link)
"All randomized controlled trials with high or acceptable quality found that SMT was not superior to sham interventions for the treatment of these non-musculoskeletal disorders." (link)