Category Archives: physicists

Climate science as a social process

Posted on February 5, 2023 by ...and Then There's Physics

I came across a paper that might be of interest to regular readers of this blog. It’s by Hans von Storch and is a Brief communication: Climate science as a social process – history, climatic determinism, Mertonian norms and post-normality. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, physicists, Research, Resilience, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 74 Comments

No, a cherry-picked analysis doesn’t demonstrate that we’re not in a climate crisis

Posted on October 7, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

This is a repost of an article that I wrote for Skeptical Science, with help from @TheDisproof, who has been very active on Twitter debunking various climate myths. A group of Italian scientists recently published a paper in which they … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Global warming, physicists, Scientists, Severe Events | Tagged , , , , | 320 Comments

Limits to Growth?

Posted on July 23, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

Tom Murphy, who is a physics professor at UC San Diego, runs a blog called Do the Math. Just over 10 years ago, he had a popular blog post asking can economic growth can last?, which I discussed in one … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, GRRRRROWTH, Philosophy for Bloggers, physicists, Scientists | Tagged , , , | 199 Comments

World Atmospheric CO2

Posted on May 20, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

Early this year, a journal called Health Physics published a paper on World Atmospheric CO2, Its 14C Specific Activity, Non-fossil Component, Anthropogenic Fossil Component, and Emissions (1750–2018). The paper concluded that Our results show that the percentage of the total … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, physicists, Research, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , | 106 Comments

The is-ought distinction

Posted on May 21, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There was an interesting panel discussion, as part of Andy Revkin’s #SustainWhat webcast, involving Naomi Oreskes and Mike Hulme. Andy was highlighting it because of what Naomi Oreskes was saying about people staying in their lanes. There can be a … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Philosophy for Bloggers, physicists, Policy, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , , , | 55 Comments

The social construction of science

Posted on March 8, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Richard Dawkins posted a tweet that cause a bit of a furore in some sectors of Twitter. He did try to clarify, but it still didn’t go down well. The problem with his tweet is that science clearly is socially … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy for Bloggers, physicists, Research, Scientists, Sound Science (tm), The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 53 Comments

Deferential?

Posted on February 3, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I was listening to a podcast interview with Steve Keen, whose work I’ve written about before. It was about his paper the appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change. I have a lot of sympathy with what he’s presenting. Some … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, economics, Environmental change, physicists, Policy, Scientists | Tagged , , , | 54 Comments

Some reflections on lecturing during a pandemic

Posted on November 27, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I noticed, via Twitter, that a colleague had written an interesting post about survival strategies for lecturers [Edit: I hadn’t appreciated that this had been written pre-pandemic, but it is what largely motivated my post]. I had been thinking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, physicists, Science, Universities | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Evidence-led?

Posted on September 19, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I was blocked on Twitter by Zion Lights after I, somewhat snarkily, retweeted one of her tweets. Zion Lights is the UK director of Michael Shellenberger’s organisation, Environmental Progress. Zion Lights has had a bit of a rough week, having … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Philosophy for Bloggers, physicists, Research, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 158 Comments

A physicist for president?

Posted on March 19, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Jim Al’Khalili has an article in Scientific American called [a] physicist for president? Jim is a physicist, so he’s probably being somewhat provactive. Also, he’s mostly arguing for someone who applies the scientific method to thinking and decision-making and is … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, physicists, Politics, Scientists, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments