Useful Intelligent Science Links

Why Science Matters

Science is probably humanities greatest achievement but to understand it requires some effort, some care and a lot of thought.

Ben Goldacre's Don't dumb me down is a good introduction to understanding science.

The sites below provide an interesting and often amusing take on science and on the work of dedicated scientists around the world. A number of 'non-scientific' sites (particularly in the field of evolution) are included so that readers may acquaint themselves with the fanciful ideas - presented as 'intelligent design', 'young-earth creationism', and the like - and compare them with the theories of evolution and the hard evidence that under-pins them.

So-called 'complementary or alternative medicine' (CAM) contrasts with evidence-based or science-based medicine by being based on 'rejected knowledge'. It fails, when tested in a robust manner, to show itself as being more effective than a placebo, a medicine or medical procedure with no physiological effect prescribed for psychological reasons. The world wide web is strewn with sites laying-out 'so-called' evidence of the superiority of CAM. If the benefits attributed to an alternative therapy are too good to be true, they almost certainly are. After all, modern science-based medicine comprises those parts of more ancient therapeutic systems that have been proven reliable and efficacious - for example, herbal remedies have been refined to produce safer drugs. If CAM were effective, you could be sure it would now be a part of 'conventional' medicine and would no longer need to be called either 'complementary' or 'alternative'.

If you can point us to any other useful site please send us an e-mail giving the URL - we will be happy add it to our list!

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Philosophy of Science, History of Science & Science in Society

Is Science Based On Faith?
Philosophers and Critical Thinkers in Senior Schools - a completely free searchable database of philosophy and critical thinking teaching resources
Philosophy of Science - excellent essays
The Unnatural Laws of Science
Internet History of Science Sourcebook
Science Magazine - superb essays on Science and Society
Internet for History and Philosophy of Science
Guide to Philosophy on the Internet - by Peter Suber
Philosophy of Science Resources - comprehensive
Sixty Methodological Potholes - fallacies, problems, biases and effects that can confound the conduct of good research
Challenging the Precautionary Principle
Intermediate Technology Development Group supports teachers and young people learning about sustainable development
History of paleontology
Russell's teapot
Stephen Law Blog - Stephen is the editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy journal THINK
Chilling Effects Clearing House - a review of the protections in the US, that the First Amendment and intellectual property laws give to your online activities (these may be different in other legal jurisdictions)
British Chiropractic Association v Singh [2010] EWCA Civ 350 (01 April 2010) Practical Ethics - including science-related matters
Science, Reason and Critical Thinking
Thinking is Real
Campaign for Freedom of Information - how can you understand if you don't know
Heresy Corner - countering complacency, received opinions and incoherent thought

General Science & Science Education

Tired Teacher's Website K-12 (recommended by Jack Moore)
Scientific consensus
Fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the PhET project at the University of Colorado
Physics Demos & Science Exhibit Designs
Podcasts from the University of Oxford - these include superb lectures on scientific topics
Vega Science Trust - science lectures online - excellent and, in many cases, outstanding
Web Sites and Resources for Teaching Acoustics - maintained by Technical Committee on Musical Acoustics (TCMU) of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Treasure Troves of Science
Smarter Surfing - Better Use of Your Web Time
How Stuff Works - a huge site that will answer most questions about how gadgets work
The Rudiments of Wisdom - by Tim Hunkin
Science World - from Wolfram Research
Martindale Online Calculator Centre
The National Curriculum (new & UK)
Association for Science Education
HoD's homepage - written for Heads of Department - how to run your department well
Science teaching links
The Scientific Alliance
Sense about Science
The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science
Number Watch - using numbers to create and maintain panic

Mathematics, Statistics, Astronomy, Physics & Computing

Straight Statistics
The Little Handbook of Statistical Practice
Understanding Uncertainty
Mathematical Thinking - from the Open University
Physical Reference Data from the NIST
Materials for the History of Statistics
Earliest known uses of mathematical words
Earliest known uses of mathematical symbols
Number patterns
Unit Converter - units conversion - Chrome app. and web site
Convert for Windows - units conversion - free software
Puzzles - of many different kinds
History of Mathematics - St. Andrew's University Resource
Computer History Links
MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab
Free Structural Software
The Second Superstring Revolution
Superstrings link
Physics Demonstration Resources Online
The Contemporary Physics Education Project
U.C. Berkeley Physics Lecture Demonstrations
Institute of Physics - information about the IoP, it's publications, etc.
'Bad Astronomy' - the 'facts' that all those sci-fi films and TV series got wrong, and more!!
44 Common Misconceptions About Astronomy
NASA's resources
Maths Sites for Educators - produced by NASA
Physics link - the ultimate resource page
Dave's Physics archive - a huge selection of great questions and solutions at top A/Level standard
CERN - birth place of the Web and loads of info about Particle Physics research
JET - info on research into fusion
Royal Holloway and Bedford New Colleges - information on physics
UKAEA - information about the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Plasma Physics - set up your own tokomac
Atomic force microscopes - 'seeing' atoms
Schrodinger's Cat
Rainbows (recommended by Brynne Collins)
Refraction
Common Acoustical Problems
About temperature
Galileo thermometers
Penguins everywhere - including some stuff about thermodynamics and keeping them warm
Ideal gases - virtual laboratory
Awesome Astronomy (recommended by Jack Moore)
World's Largest Scale Model of the Solar System
Exploring Planets in the Classroom

Chemistry

Chemistry teaching resources
Good Chemistry Demos
Some Other Experiments Too - (alkali metals, etc)
Web Elements Periodic Table
Salters' Chemistry Club Handbook
Periodic Table of Videos - by the University of Nottingham
"Ionized" and alkaline water - Snake oil on tap

Biology, Medicine & Health

Biology Answers - useful general resource
Free Medical Journals
The Cochrane Collaboration
ft.com/healthblog
The Deadly Perils of Rejected Knowledge by Thomas R. DeGregori
American Council on Science and Health - excellent science content
GM - Frankenstein Foods - an excellent, and not overlong, summary
Shroud of Turin research
The scientific evidence for HIV/AIDS
Science-Based Medicine
ebm-first.com - the voice of reason responding to the uncritical media coverage given to alternative medicine
AgBioWorld
Dr Aust's Spleen
Anne's Anti-Quackery & Science Blog
Collective Imagination
Vaccination and the Control of Seven Infectious Diseases in the US (1900-1970)
Quackwatch
Dr Crippen's Diary
Dr Grumble
Northern Doctor
The Jobbing Doctor
Essays by Malcolm Kendrick, MD
Confessions of a Quackbuster
Rogue Medic
Neurologica Blog
Science-Based Medicine - Exploring issues and controversies in the relationship between science and medicine
Junkfood Science
The British Veterinary Voodoo Society
It’s Evidence Jim, But Not As We Know It! - the problem homeopathy has with evidence

Evolution and Science

Voices for Evolution
History of evolutionary thought
On the Origin of Species
Common descent
Evolution as Theory and Fact
Evolution, Science and Reason
List of Popular Misconceptions in Evolution
The Quote Mine Project or 'Lies, Damned Lies and Quote Mines'
Evolution and Philosophy
Modern Evolutionary Synthesis
Links to Wikipedia pages on Evolutionary Biology
Linnaean taxonomy
Evolutionary taxonomy
Cladistics
Evidence of Common Descent
Homology (biology)
Species
The Species Problem
Transmutation of species
Speciation
Observed Instances of Speciation
Meteorite Dust and the Age of the Earth by Tim Thompson
Moon Rock
Natural Selection
Evolution
What is Evolution?
Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution
Macroevolution
Fossil
Accuracy of Fossils and Dating Methods by Michael Benton
Transitional Fossils
The Scientific Case for Common Descent
Links about creationist objections to evolution
Objections to evolution
Young Earth Creationism
Old Earth Creationism
Gap Creationism
Timeline: How Creationism Has "Evolved"
Evolution versus Creationism
Creationism vs Science
Creationism's Trojan Horse
Omphalos Hypothesis
Intelligent Design
Teleological argument or argument from design
Stumper Questions for Creationists
Creationist Whoppers
When life as we know it became possible on Earth
Creationist Arguments: Misquotes
Refutations of Intelligent Design
Irreducible Complexity
Irreducible Complexity and Michael Behe
Central IL Scientist Responds to Behe's Black Box
Irreducible Complexity or Irreproducible Irreducibility? by Keith Robison
Ocean Tides and the Earth's Rotation
A Visit to the Institute for Creation Research by Karen Bartelt
One side can be wrong by Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne
PathWay Papers - including an article about the 'geologic column'
Evolution and the Roman Catholic Church - not scientific but interesting
Watchmaker analogy
Scientific Answers to Creationist Claims
Intelligent Design movement
Intelligent Design - the Skeptic's Dictionary
Teaching the Controversy
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Evolution Resources - (Kenneth R. Miller) - Miller was one of the scientific experts called in the recent Dover, Pennsylvania case Kitzmiller et al vs. Dover Area School District
Why Did the Supreme Court rule against creationism in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) - read the original judgement
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - what is the film really about?
The testimony of Kevin Padian in Kitzmiller et al vs. Dover Area School District
The Judgement in the Kitzmiller et al vs. Dover Area School District case
Project Steve - a tongue-in-cheek parody of a long-standing creationist tradition of amassing lists of "scientists who doubt evolution" or "scientists who dissent from Darwinism"
Intelligent Design on Trial: Kitzmiller et al vs. Dover Area School District

Discovery Institute's 'Wedge Project'
Creationism - An Intelligent Person's Guide To What It's All About
Who are the Creation "Scientists"?

Articles in Opposition to Creationism by Lorence G. Collins
Science and Religion
Reviews: Icons Of Evolution by Jonathan Wells

Environmental & Social Science

RealClimate - climate science from climate scientists
The Conservation Foundation - founded in 1982 by David Shreeve and David Bellamy
Articles on Environmentalism
Environmental Science Links
Environmental Sciences Links
Environmental Chemistry Resources
Environmentalism - an alternative look at environmentalism
Social Issues Research Council
Patrick Moore - Greenpeace Founder
Bjorn Lomborg - Author of The Skeptical Environmentalist
Kåre Fog - Critic of The Skeptical Environmentalist
The Question of Global Warming by Freeman Dyson
List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming
William Nordhaus - economic analysis of ways of dealing with global warming
Tyndall Centre for Climate Research
Chaotic world of climate truth by Mike Hulme, Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Lessons and Limits of Climate History - was the 20th century climate unusual?
An experiment that hints we are wrong on climate change by Nigel Calder, former editor of New Scientist, who says the orthodoxy must be challenged
2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved?
Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change

Scientific Scepticism, Pseudoscience & Junk Science

Pseudoscience
Water-related pseudoscience fantasy and quackery
Donald Simanek's Back Page - includes sections on science fraud, medical info., psychiatric pseudoscience, futurism, astronomy, skepticism, religion, etc.
Museum of Hoaxes
Pseudoscience - Paranormal Phenomena - Skepticism
ButterfliesandWheels - fighting fashionable nonsense
The National Anxiety Center - don't worry, everything's fine!
Australian Skeptics - fabulously refreshing
The Lay Scientist
Junk Science - If you love science you should visit this site
Urban Legends - Science
'Bad Science' - things you were told at school that are actually half-truths or wrong
The Skeptic's Dictionary
Dr Aust’s Spleen - a grumpy scientist writes
Skepticwiki - the encyclopedia of skepticism, science and reason
Evidence Based Thought - an exercise in critical thinking
Dynamist.com
Gimpy's Blog - inane witterings and bad science
Evidence Matters
Vaccine Controversy
Ministry of Truth
The Institute of Ideas
The National Council Against Health Fraud
David Colquhoun's Improbable Science
Ben Goodacre's Bad Science - highly recommended
The Onion
The Quackometer - debunking quack medicine on the web
Holford Watch - nutritionism and bad science
The Quack Files
Quack Watch
The Digitsal Cuttlefish
James Randi - world famous magician and debunker
Sean the Blogonaut
The Libertarian
A canna’ change the laws of physics
jdc325's Weblog - blogging about balderdash and baloney
The Skeptical Enquirer
Zeno's Blog
Spiked
Skeptico - critical thinking for an irrational world
How to spot a Psychopath
Critical Thinking / Disinformation on the Web
Podblack Cat
Fallacy Files - Complete Alphabetical List of Fallacies
Pharyngula by P.Z. Myers
Cubik's Rube
Respectful Insolence
Skepchick - reality has never looked so good
The Skepbitch - scathing skepticism and social commentary
The Sceptics' Book of Pooh-Pooh
SkepticReport
Atomac - The World According to Andrew

The Humour(?) of Science

Thoughts on Product Labelling
DHMO.org - Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division