Monthly Archives: August 2019

Statistical versus mathematical modelling

Posted on August 31, 2019 by

There’s a short comment by Andrea Saltelli in Nature Communications on Statistical versus Mathematical Modelling. The general premise is that, like statistics, there is also a crisis in mathematical modelling. However, there isn’t the same sense of crisis about mathematical … Continue reading →

Posted in Research, Science, Sound Science (tm), The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 153 Comments

AGW in One GIF

Posted on August 30, 2019 by

An image is said to be worth a thousand words. A GIF encapsulates many images. This one may not cover all ClimateBall players said, but I like it: Which words would that GIF be worth? If you got another illustration … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Global warming, We Are Science | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

High emission scenarios

Posted on August 23, 2019 by

I thought I might briefly reflect, again, on the whole RCP8.5 discussion. In case anyone missed it, there has been a lengthy online discussion about RCP8.5, which is a concentration/forcing pathway that leads to a change in forcing of 8.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, ClimateBall, Severe Events | Tagged , , , , , | 133 Comments

This. Is. Not. Science’s. Job.

Posted on August 16, 2019 by

My title is a paraphrase of something Michael Tobis said during the marathon Twitter discussion about RCP8.5, which I thought I would use to discuss something about science communication that I’ve mentioned a number of times before. During the RCP8.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 83 Comments

A thin bench

Posted on August 15, 2019 by

A Nature Communications paper came out yesterday called Discrepancy in scientific authority and media visibility of climate change scientists and contrarians. It generates a list of what they call climate change contrarians and a list of climate change scientists and … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Contrarian Matrix, Global warming, Scientists | Tagged , , , , , | 397 Comments

Sigh

Posted on August 11, 2019 by

There’s been a rather contentious Twitter thread about RCP8.5, a concentration/forcing pathway I’ve discussed before. It started with a claim that it was “bollox” followed by a suggestion that it was mainly used for generating headlines, scaring gullible folk and … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon tax, ClimateBall, Policy, Scientists, Sound Science (tm) | Tagged , , , , , , | 101 Comments

A little knowledge

Posted on August 7, 2019 by

There is apparently a paper from a couple of years ago that is currently doing the rounds and that argues that the Molar Mass Version of the Ideal Gas Law Points to a Very Low Climate Sensitivity. The suggestion is … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate sensitivity, Greenhouse effect, Pseudoscience, Science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 26 Comments

The Popper Ratio

Posted on August 3, 2019 by

I hereby propose the Popper Ratio – (n.) Unit obtained by calculating the number of “popper” in a long-form text compared to the number of times Sir Karl is really cited. By “really cited” I mean (a) a quote and … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom Fighters, Philosophy for Bloggers, SpeedoScience, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , | 18 Comments