The realization that livestock like cows are ruminants - and produce a lot of methane while chewing - was a real boon to vegetarian activists because they got to say curbing meat would mean less…

Three detectors tracking gravitational waves emitted by a merger of two black holes have brought science a little closer to locating a gravitational wave's birthplace in space.  Gravitational…

Clamps are miniature equivalents to the gravitational shock fronts caused by colliding black holes that currently reach the press because very sensitive measuring equipment such as LIGO can detect…

Two recent studies on the health of bumblebees and links to neonicotinoids were published simultaneously last month in sister publications of the prestigious science journal empire Nature. Both…

This is a good example of a story that has morphed and changed as it gets passed from one paper to another. They all cite the same source, from the BBC but the reporters haven’t read the source. I…

I'm getting numerous pm's from very scared and sometimes suicidal people who think the world will end tomorrow. To those who are scared and suicidal - what do you do if you are scared like this? I've…

The top quark is the heaviest known matter corpuscle we consider elementary. Elementary is an overloaded word in English, so I need to explain what it means in the context of subatomic particles. If…

In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, many claims have been made that science denial, particularly as it relates to climate change, is primarily a problem of the political right. But what…

Though every politician and both U.S. parties claim to be pro-science, that isn't reflected in corporate media coverage. The New York Times will publish conspiracy theories drafted by US Right To…

In recent years the citrus industry has suffered a dramatic decrease in production. The iconic Florida citrus industry is in a disease-induced decline, ravaged by a pathogen that has cut the…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General recently did an audit of the National Organic Program, which is part of its Agricultural Marketing Services group. Marketing? Yes, that…

A new paper claims that guns are only involved in 5 percent of suicide attempts but are 50 percent of suicide deaths. Despite everyone claiming to want to be data-driven about gun deaths, few are and…

Until recently, we hadn't observed brightening of Boyajian's Star (KIC 8462852) over time. There were documented instances of fading over time, some more convincing than others. It was as though the…

In 1952 my uncle Antonio, then 18 years old, left his family home in Venice, Italy to never return, running away from the humiliation of a failure at school. With a friend he reached the border with…

Although 29 states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for medical purposes, there is no evidence it is medicine. Obviously some of the reason for that is because it's illegal and…

I thought I should do another debunking article, as there are lots of people who are getting really scared by this BS. The Daily Express particularly is promoting David Meade's book heavily with more…

Mothers have always been put upon culturally when it comes to how kids turn out. Though the physical costs of gestation are literally borne by mothers while fathers are basically done at conception(1…

Why linguistics attract so much nonsense is because these “crackpots” are not linguists, according to a linguist. Scholars of yore, when reflecting upon language, would wonder things such as: which…

Why linguistics attract so much nonsense is because these “crackpots” are not linguists, according to a linguist. Scholars of yore, when reflecting upon language, would wonder things such as: which…

Abstract Physical reality must be simple. This reasoning is the general idea behind Occam’s razor. However, it is also a general physical principle. Foundation The foundation of physical reality has…