uncertainty

6 posts

The problem with rooting for science

10 min read
Analysis Scicomm arrow paradox biopolitics Bloch sphere common English emergent properties expertise faith mathematical physics pseudoscience quantum superposition reason science communication science journalism Social Psychology statistical significance trust uncertainty wave function

The idea that trusting in science involves a lot of faith, instead of reason, is lost on most people. More often than not, as a science journalist, I encounter faith through extreme examples – such as…

The clocks that used atoms and black holes to stay in sync

11 min read
Scicomm atomic clocks caesium standard caesium-133 Event Horizon Telescope frequency comb hydrogen maser International Celestial Reference Frame Kashima Koganei Medicine microwave clocks Milky Way optical atomic clocks quasars radio telescopes SI units strontium clock uncertainty Very-Long Baseline Interferometry VLBI ytterbium clock

You're familiar with clocks. There's probably one if you look up just a little, at the upper corner of your laptop or smartphone screen, showing you what time of day it is, allowing you to qui…

The nomenclature of uncertainty

4 min read
Uncategorized blackholes Forbes futurism gravitational waves headlines high-energy physics LIGO nature science journalism Scientific American statistical significance The Wire uncertainty

Many science articles in the past year dealt with observations falling short of the evidence threshold but which have been worth writing about simply because of the desperation behind them. Has this prompted science writers to think about the language they use?…