Category Archives: Sociology of science

Four questions on climate change

Posted on April 18, 2018 by | 201 comments

by Garth Paltridge

An essay on the state of climate change science.

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201 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Update: libel cases and the ‘climate wars’

Posted on February 14, 2018 by | 139 comments

by Judith Curry

Big news in the world of ‘climate wars’ – the libel case of Andrew Weaver versus Tim Ball has been dismissed by the judge —  for a rather surprising reason.

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139 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The Top 50 Women in STEM

Posted on February 1, 2018 by | 78 comments

by Judith Curry

Inspiring biosketches of some amazing female scientists, which rather astonishingly includes moi.

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78 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Manufacturing consensus: the early history of the IPCC

Posted on January 3, 2018 by | 385 comments

by Judith Curry

Short summary: scientists sought political relevance and allowed policy makers to put a big thumb on the scale of the scientific assessment of the attribution of climate change.

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385 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Consensus, IPCC, Sociology of science

JC’s (un)motivated reasoning

Posted on December 28, 2017 by | 315 comments

by Judith Curry

“I think open explorations of the ideological assumptions scientists bring into policy debates are not only welcome but often necessary for having productive conversations.” – Aaron Huertas

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315 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Girls rule(s)

Posted on December 10, 2017 by | 152 comments

by Judith Curry

The #MeToo movement is spawning considerable reflection in academia.  Here are some reflections and advice from a senior female scientist (moi) who came up through the academic system during the bad old days of the 1970’s and 1980’s, and who has mentored many young female scientists as they navigate the professional world of academia.

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152 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

A veneer of certainty stoking climate alarm

Posted on November 29, 2017 by | 321 comments

by Judith Curry

In private, climate scientists are much less certain than they tell the public. – Rupert Darwall

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321 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science, Uncertainty

Steve Koonin: A Deceptive New Report on Climate

Posted on November 3, 2017 by | 419 comments

by Judith Curry

Red-teaming the the U.S. government’s Climate Science Special Report on the topic of sea level rise.

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419 Comments

Posted in Oceans, Sociology of science

Stanford Prof sues scientists who criticized him – demands $10M

Posted on November 1, 2017 by | 279 comments

by Judith Curry

Mannian litigation gone wild. — Steve McIntyre

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279 Comments

Posted in Energy, Sociology of science

Campus insanity versus freedom of speech

Posted on October 21, 2017 by | 526 comments

by Judith Curry

The aim of education is to make people think, not spare them from discomfort. – Robert Zimmer

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526 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Reviewing the Climate Science Special Report

Posted on August 20, 2017 by | 319 comments

by Judith Curry

Calling on CE Denizens to review the Climate Science Special Report:  nominate an official reviewer, or participate in the CE Crowdsourced Review.

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319 Comments

Posted in Scientific method, Sociology of science

Stealth advocacy: a survey of weathercasters’ views on climate change

Posted on July 19, 2017 by | 346 comments

by Mike Smith

For a decade, the weathercaster and broadcast meteorology communities have been subject of a focused campaign to force them to cover global warming in a manner acceptable to the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union and other advocacy groups.

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346 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Alarm about alarmism

Posted on July 15, 2017 by | 222 comments

by Judith Curry

The climate change debate has entered what we might call the “Campfire Phase”, in which the goal is to tell the scariest story. – Oren Cass (twitter)

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222 Comments

Posted in Communication, Sociology of science

Framing the challenge for the climate red team

Posted on July 9, 2017 by | 298 comments

by Judith Curry

There is an opportunity to steer the proposed red team exercise in a useful direction.  The first step is to frame the problem to be addressed.

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298 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

What is red teaming?

Posted on July 3, 2017 by | 330 comments

by Judith Curry

Last week, Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator, stated he intended to form a ‘red team’ to debate climate science.  What exactly is ‘red teaming’, and how can this be implemented in a way that is useful for climate science and for policy makers?

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330 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

National Climate Assessment and the Trump administration

Posted on June 21, 2017 by | 352 comments

The National Climate Assessment must be redirected or terminated

by Patrick J. Michaels

Periodic National Assessments of the effects of climate change on the U.S. are mandated by the 1990 Global Change Research Act. The next Assessment Report is scheduled to be published in late 2018.

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352 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

The radically fragmented and decentralized age of information

Posted on June 20, 2017 by | 121 comments

by Judith Curry

Why real nobodies are more powerful than repressed somebodies.

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121 Comments

Posted in Communication, Sociology of science

Nye’s Quadrant

Posted on May 2, 2017 by | 521 comments

by Judith Curry

The scary emergence of Nye’s Quadrant in dominating the public discourse on climate change.

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521 Comments

Posted in Scientific method, Sociology of science

Untangling the March for Science

Posted on April 22, 2017 by | 223 comments

by Judith Curry

Pondering some thorny issues regarding science, its place in society and its relationship to politics.

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223 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

The politics of knowledge

Posted on April 12, 2017 by | 113 comments

by Judith Curry

One needs to ask good questions about whose claims to trust and why. – Sheila Jasanoff

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113 Comments

Posted in Politics, Sociology of science

‘Deniers,’ lies and politics

Posted on March 31, 2017 by | 458 comments

by Judith Curry

House Science Committee Hearing:  where the so-called ‘deniers’ behave like scientists and the defender of the establishment consensus . . . lies.

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458 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Exactly what are scientists marching ‘for’?

Posted on March 5, 2017 by | 556 comments

by Judith Curry

The smartest people on the planet want to oppose Trump & the best they can come up with is a march in support of themselves? – Roger Pielke Jr

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556 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

What’s wrong with ‘alternative facts’?

Posted on February 26, 2017 by | 322 comments

by Kip Hansen

‘Alternative facts’ is a term in law to describe inconsistent sets of facts put forth in a court given that there is plausible evidence to support both alternatives. The term is also used to describe competing facts for the two sides of the case. – Wikipedia

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322 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Brussel declaration on principles for science & policy making

Posted on February 25, 2017 by | 186 comments

by Judith Curry

In this age of politicization of science and activist scientists, the Brussel Declaration offers some very good advice and deserves to be widely read and discussed.

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186 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Innate Skepticism

Posted on February 20, 2017 by | 363 comments

by Andy West

On the origin of public skepticism and its entanglement with science.

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363 Comments

Posted in Skeptics, Sociology of science