Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
There are a few stories doing the rounds of the clash on live Australian TV between UK Physicist Brian Cox and the Climate change denying senior Australian politician, Malcolm Roberts, so let’s take a look and see what happened. The background here is that Mr Roberts had earlier issued a challenge for anybody to show him evidence that … Read more
The TL;DR; answer is that yes we really did it. Sadly however there are people who are quite committed to the idea that it never actually happened and that what we have been presented with is nothing but special effects. I recall once encountering a Moon landing hoaxer while attending TAM (The Amazing Meeting) in the US. … Read more
When it comes to utterly bizarre claims then the “Phantom Time Hypothesis” is one of those that does indeed stand out. Basically this was dreamed up historian Heribert Illig and first published in 1991. In summary, the idea is that roughly about three centuries of history (AD 614 to 911) never actually happened and that … Read more
I never cease to be amazed at how a deeply embraced belief can motivate some individuals to behave in a truly abhorrent manner. Now you are perhaps thinking that I’m talking about religious belief, and perhaps I am because some religious people can behave towards others in a deeply offensive manner, for example by declaring that all … Read more
It is almost inevitable that when something big happens, an assortment of conspiracy theories will rapidly arise as a means to cope and to also explain. So what “theories” has the Boston Bombing given birth to? We can obviously dismiss wild assertions that come with exactly zero evidence, but what about those that do have … Read more
The BBC took five 9/11 Truthers on a road trip and confronted them with the facts. They were each told to present the claim that they felt convinced them. In response, they were then introduced to the appropriate subject matter experts who proceeded to debunk the claim. So what actually happened and did any of … Read more