Category Archives: Sociology of science

Discussion: JC’s ‘role’

Posted on February 11, 2017 by | 767 comments

by Judith Curry

In view of recent controversies, numerous criticisms have been made about my ‘role,’ with expectations of things that I ‘should’ be doing.

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767 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The new ‘climate denial’

Posted on February 10, 2017 by | 393 comments

by Judith Curry

Interesting article in The Atlantic, but I’m still trying to figure out what is being ‘denied.’

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393 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Skin in the game

Posted on January 9, 2017 by | 485 comments

by Judith Curry

Some reflections on my transition from academic climate research to private sector weather forecasting and regional climate change assessments.

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485 Comments

Posted in Energy, Sociology of science

JC in transition

Posted on January 3, 2017 by | 330 comments

by Judith Curry

Effective January 1, I have resigned my tenured faculty position at Georgia Tech.

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330 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The latest climate ‘conspiracy theory’

Posted on December 15, 2016 by | 464 comments

by Judith Curry

Guess who the new climate ‘conspiracy theorists’ are?

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464 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Shifting sands of the climate debate

Posted on December 12, 2016 by | 462 comments

by Judith Curry

Insiders are out; and outsiders are becoming the insiders.

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462 Comments

Posted in Politics, Sociology of science

Climate Heretic: to be or not to be?

Posted on December 5, 2016 by | 855 comments

by Judith Curry

On experts, lukewarmers, and unhappy heretics.

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855 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

‘Truthiness’ and ‘factiness’ in politicized scientific debates

Posted on December 3, 2016 by | 355 comments

by Judith Curry

The trappings of science can be decoupled from the actual rigor of science.

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355 Comments

Posted in Politics, Sociology of science

Perversions of open-minded thinking on climate change

Posted on December 1, 2016 by | 342 comments

by Kip Hansen

Climate skepticism: a ‘perverse’ effect of ‘actively open-minded thinking’.

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342 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The real war on science

Posted on November 21, 2016 by | 596 comments

by Judith Curry

The Left has done far more than the Right to set back progress. – John Tierney

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596 Comments

Posted in Politics, Sociology of science

Advocacy research, incentives and the practice of science

Posted on October 27, 2016 by | 98 comments

by Judith Curry

There is a problem with the practice of science. Because of poor scientific practices, and improper incentives, few papers with useful scientific findings are published in leading journals. The problem appears to be growing due to funding for advocacy research.

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98 Comments

Posted in Scientific method, Sociology of science

Politics and the Changing Norms of Science

Posted on October 25, 2016 by | 134 comments

by Lucas Bergkamp

 “The politician is sometimes tempted to encroach on the normal territory of the scientific estate. In such issues the problem is less often whether politics will presume to dictate to science than it is how much politics is to be influenced by the new findings of science.”[1]

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134 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

How to constrain the abuse of science by Federal agencies

Posted on September 28, 2016 by | 112 comments

by David Wojick

There is a recurring pattern of Federal agencies twisting science in order to support confiscatory actions. The agencies can get away with these tricks because there is a general lack of controls on how they use science when making policy, crafting regulations, etc.

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112 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Measuring bias in the U.S. federally-funded climate research

Posted on August 23, 2016 by | 655 comments

by David Wojick

Semantic analysis of U.S. Federal budget documents indicates that the climate science research budget is heavily biased in favor of the paradigm of human-induced climate change.

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655 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Dan Sarewitz on Saving Science

Posted on August 22, 2016 by | 154 comments

By Judith Curry

Science isn’t self-correcting, it’s self-destructing. To save the enterprise, scientists must come out of the lab and into the real world. – Daniel Sarewitz

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154 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Alarm over the public loss of trust in science

Posted on August 18, 2016 by | 268 comments

by Judith Curry

A blast of fresh air from the new Editor-in-Chief of Science. “Science editor-in-chief sounds alarm over falling public trust. Jeremy Berg warns scientists are straying into policy commentator roles.”

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268 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

AMS: Weather, Water and Climate Priorities

Posted on July 18, 2016 by | 65 comments

by Judith Curry

An eminently sensible and constructive statement from the American Meteorological Society.

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65 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

The troubled institution of science

Posted on July 15, 2016 by | 317 comments

by Judith Curry

“Is the point of research to make other professional academics happy, or is it to learn more about the world?” —Noah Grand, sociology professor, UCLA

“Science, I had come to learn, is as political, competitive, and fierce a career as you can find, full of the temptation to find easy paths.” — Paul Kalanithi, neurosurgeon and writer (1977–2015)

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317 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Climate power play by the AAAS et al.

Posted on July 4, 2016 by | 477 comments

by Judith Curry

The AAAS and affiliated professional societies just shot themselves in the foot with the letter to U.S. policy makers.

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477 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

Climate polarization requires long, deep look at our worldviews

Posted on June 30, 2016 by | 152 comments

by Judith Curry

A more truly open dialogue, which honors a wider range of perspectives, may start to take place if we use integrative perspectives.

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152 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

How Dr. Frankenstein is making research sick

Posted on June 20, 2016 by | 174 comments

by Judith Curry

What I saw was a creature not unlike that made by Dr. Frankenstein and which turned onto its creator: neither traditional science nor business, as it is made from incompatible parts taken from both bodies with good intentions but not much forethought. – Yuri Lazebnik

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174 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Science on the verge

Posted on June 9, 2016 by | 217 comments

by Judith Curry

This book offers an uncomfortable but vital diagnosis of the trouble with science. – Jack Stilgoe

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217 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The Republic of Science

Posted on May 30, 2016 by | 222 comments

by Judith Curry

The professional standards of science must impose a framework of discipline and at the same time encourage rebellion against it. – Michael Polanyi (1962)

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222 Comments

Posted in Consensus, History, Sociology of science

Flint water crisis: profiles in scientific courage

Posted on February 8, 2016 by | 277 comments

by Judith Curry

[T]the systems built to support scientists do not reward moral courage and the university pipeline contains toxins of its own — which, if ignored, will corrode public faith in science. – Marc Edwards

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277 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

Discussion: can we hit the ‘restart’ button?

Posted on February 2, 2016 by | 374 comments

by Kip Hansen

Some problems require a restart.

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374 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science