The secrets of hidden lakes of water in #Antarctic hint at dire consequences

Chris Mooney has been writing within the Washington Post about a lake of water that exists underneath an ice shelf in East Antarctica … “Many people refer to East Antarctica as being too cold for significant melt,” says Jan Lenaerts, a glaciologist with the Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “I mean there’s marginal melt in summer, … Read more

Utterly Bizarre Claim: Bishop can make your penis larger by massaging it

OK, something slightly different today, this is all about weird beliefs and how to cope when faced with such things. Over in Ghana, self-appointed Bishop and TV evangelist Daniel Obinim, has made himself rather famous recently by announcing that he can enlarging mens penises by massaging them with both hands. Being a traditional preacher he … Read more

#Arctic Sea Ice

I reported earlier, a few weeks ago, that #Arctic sea ice was in a rather dire condition and that something crazy was going on because in the middle of winter it was melting. So where do things now stand, has it all turned out to be a blip and things are now back to normal, or … Read more

What is the best way to debunk fake Videos?

Viral fake videos abound because they tickle our imagination. So how do you effectively debunk one? If you were faced with a talking head where somebody proceeds to debunk it fact by fact, then most eyes will rapidly glaze over and the vast majority will simply move on. Is there a better solution? Actually, yes … Read more

Why is there a ‘reality gap’?

Much is being written about fake news and so there has been a dawning realisation that we live in an age where there is a very distinct reality gap. Steve Benen writes on MSNBC about how disconnected some are from reality. He describes it as follows … what struck me as especially notable about the … Read more

How many get fooled when Fake News goes viral?

Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist blogger who used to be a maths teacher, plucks out a gem regarding fake news going viral from a presentation by blogger Dan Meyer. Dan’s keynote presentation is mostly a talk by a maths teachers to other teachers, hence Hemant’s interest. Be warned, unless you are into teaching, it will mostly … Read more