BLA3671

1. Human sciences are "fuzzy" sciences, but they are still sciences.
[|Why psychology isn't science] (Be sure to scroll all the way down to see the whole article.) This article says that psychology is not a science because it does not meet the basic requirements of a science. First, it says that psychology does not have clearly defined terminology, which is not true. Just look at the difference in psychology between sex and gender. It also says psychology doesn't have quantifiable and controlled experimental conditions; take the example of Pavlov's experiment with conditioning - he measured saliva, which means it was quantifiable, and he used a controlled experiment to gather his data. The author states that psychological experiments do not have reproducibility, but in order for any experiment to be taken seriously other researchers must retry the experiment and get the same results. Lastly, it says that psychology does not have predictability and testability, but if this was true then there could never be an experiment in psychology, because psychologists would not be able to make predictions or test them.

2. Science requires data.
[|About Kinesiology Tape] This article explains the uses and benefits of Kinesiology tape (you probably saw athletes in the Olympics wearing it), but it does not once cite a study or experiment to prove these claims. Is this really science?

3. Science runs on careful criticism.
[|A Really Inconvenient Truth: Global Warming is Not Real] This article discusses how global warming is in fact false, but they do not sight much scientific data to support this theory. They do, however, cite the fact that some scientists have said they disagree with global warming theories as evidence. This disagreement between scientists doesn't mean one side of the argument is right, but it is a critical part in the process of determining what //is// right.

4. Fight fire with fire, and data with data.
See article from #3. This article discredits the theory of global warming by saying that scientists do not agree with each other on the theory. The authors do not cite scientific evidence as they should when trying to discredit a theory.

5. There's power in precise terms.
[|The Cambrian Explosion] This article discusses how evolution is not true and is "only a theory". Obviously, whoever wrote this article should have payed more attention in science class when they were learning definitions.

6. Correlation is not causation.
[|What Facebook Users Share: Lower Grades] In this article by TIME magazine, researchers claim that Facebook causes students to have lower grades. Although there may be a correlation between lower GPAs and Facebook use, this does not mean that Facebook is causing lower grades. Children who use Facebook are probably more likely to use other types of technology and social networking and probably more likely to neglect their homework and study time, which would cause lower GPAs.

7. More of something good isn't always better.
[|Why is subway healthy?] This is not an actual article, but a Yahoo Answers discussion with some very interesting answers (and no citations). Most of the comments say that Subway is healthy because they offer lots of vegetables and low fat foods. However, more of something good is not always better; too much low fat food can rob you of important nutrients ( http://www.sheknows.co.uk/health-and-wellness/articles/955565/why-low-fat-foods-can-be-bad-for-you) and eating too many vegetables can cause stomach problems (http://www.lookchem.com/Chempedia/Health-and-Chemical/9015.html).

8. Beware the plausible, __especially__ if it works.
[|Our Leaders lost weight with Weight Watchers] This testimonial on the Weight Watchers website says that Weight Watchers works and uses the success of Weight Watchers coaches as evidence. However, the site does not cite any real experiments or scientific evidence that Weight Watchers is effective.

9. Where there's smoke, there's smoke.
[|Was Einstein Wrong?] This article highlights a recent discovery that neutrinos could be traveling faster than light, which would mean that Einstein's theory of relativity would be incorrect. However, Einstein cannot be discredited yet because there has not been enough scientific scrutiny on the experiment to ensure that the finding are true.

10. Lack of evidence doesn't mean it's false.
[|Little evidence of health benefits from organic foods, Stanford study finds] This article reviews a study on the actual benefits of organic food. The study did not find very large differences between organic and regularly grown food, so the author gives the impression that since there is little evidence that organic foods are better, it is a waste of money to buy them over regularly grown foods.