Özgür Nevres' Web Diary – Page 4 – Science doesn't care what you believe

How to spot a conspiracy theory when you see one

Anyone who engages critically with the phenomenon of conspiracy theories soon encounters a conundrum. Actual conspiracies occur quite regularly. Political assassinations, scandals and cover-ups, terrorist attacks and a lot of everyday government activity involves the collusion of multiple people in the attempt to bring about a desired outcome.

Jovan Byford, The Open University

How to spot bogus science stories and read the news like a scientist

Doug Specht, University of Westminster and Julio Gimenez, University of Westminster

When fake news, misreporting and alternative facts are everywhere, reading the news can be a challenge. Not only is there plenty of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other scientific topics floating around social media, you also need to read science stories, even well-known publications, with caution.

EuroMsg Express (MailChimp alternative)

Today I want to share a new software product – EuroMsg Express, a MailChimp alternative or simply a marketing automation platform and an email marketing service. I worked on this project as a backend developer.

Veronique (Pink Martini)

Written by Thomas Lauderdale and Gregory Tozian, “Veronique” is a beautiful song from Pink Martini’s 2004 album titled “Hang On Little Tomato”.

Pseudoscience is taking over social media – and putting us all at risk

Santosh Vijaykumar, Northumbria University, Newcastle

Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, a new study suggests that deniers and conspiracy theorists might hold an edge over those believing in science. Researchers found evidence that most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it’s primarily caused by human activities.

An organized collection of irrational nonsense (v. 5.0)

An organizational collection of irrational nonsense (cropped version)

An organizational collection of irrational nonsense (previously known as the“Venn diagram of irrational nonsense”) v. 5.0. A complete list of irrational bullshit.

Imany – You Will Never Know

The official clip of “You will never know”, a beautiful song from Imany’s 2011 album “The Shape of a Broken Heart”. It is the debut album from former French catwalk model Nadia Mladjao, aka Imany. Produced by Malick N’Diaye (Ayo) its 12 English-language tracks offer up a mixture of acoustic folk, heartfelt soul, and passionate blues, and includes the single “You Will Never Know.”

Demonising processed food undermines our trust in science

Alan Kelly, University College Cork

I have a radical suggestion: let’s ban processed and ultra-processed foods. Not the products, but the terms.

Fiat 500 60th Anniversary – the best commercial ever for a car

In my humble opinion, this commercial for Fiat 500 60th Anniversary is the best commercial ever for a car. The great Mario Lanza’s “Come Prima” (Like before) plays throughout the ad. The American actor Adrien Brody plays the main role of the man from the past.

A quantum computing future is unlikely, due to random hardware errors

Subhash Kak, Oklahoma State University

Google announced this fall to much fanfare that it had demonstrated “quantum supremacy” – that is, it performed a specific quantum computation far faster than the best classical computers could achieve. IBM promptly critiqued the claim, saying that its own classical supercomputer could perform the computation at nearly the same speed with far greater fidelity and, therefore, the Google announcement should be taken “with a large dose of skepticism.”