http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR11/Event/142304
Session V5: Physics for Everyone
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 24, 2011
Room: Ballroom C1
Sponsoring Units: DMP DCMP
Chair: Ivan Schuller, University of California, San Diego
Abstract: V5.00002 : Voodoo Science
8:36 AM–9:12 AM
Preview Abstract
Author:
Robert Park
(American Physical Society)
A remarkable scientific result that appears to violate natural law may
portend a revolutionary advance in human knowledge. It is, however,
more likely an experimental screw up. Error is normal; it can be
reduced by repeating measurements and better design of controls, but
the success and credibility of science is anchored in a culture of
openness. Ideas and observations are freely exposed to independent
testing and evaluation by others. What emerges is the book of nature.
On its pages we find, if not a simple world, at least an orderly
world, in which everything from the birth of stars to falling in love
is governed by the same natural laws. These laws cannot be
circumvented by any amount of piety or cleverness, they can be
understood - with the possible exception of String Theory. For those
who elect to work outside the scientific community, errors may go
unrecognized. We will examine examples of this, including claims of
perpetual motion and cancer caused by cell-phone radiation.
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What! No CF!?!
