A definition of "Science"

So just what is science?

The dictionary explains that the word comes from the Latin “scientia” meaning “knowledge”, but there are different kinds of knowledge and different ways of accumulating knowledge. Science is the branch of knowledge built on observations of the natural world systematically arranged to reveal patterns. Scientists seek to discover and document these patterns and ultimately understand their underlying causes.

The purpose of science is to understand, explain, and to predict natural phenomena, it is not the purpose of science to judge, rank, or otherwise assign value to the phenomena—that’s the role of other ways of understanding the world, the role of philosophy, the arts, and religion.

Science is best suited to answer the “who, what, where” sorts of questions; the other paths of inquiry are better suited to answer questions related to the ultimate purpose of things.

Photo credit: http://undsci.berkeley.edu/images/us101/scientists.jpg

Nature of science, 1

Sixty-six percent of adults in a USA Today/Gallup Poll* responded with “definitely” or “probably true” to the statement that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years”.

Of course, this explanation is not taught in science classes because it is a conclusion that is not based on science but a religious text. The pervasiveness of this erroneous viewpoint points to a fundamental confusion in the minds of many people about what science is and how it works, the areas of human experience that science can and cannot address, and a perceived conflict between the findings of science and personally held beliefs.

So just what is science and what does it do? Continued tomorrow...

*http://www.pollingreport.com/science.htm

photo credit: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MCG/FPF631~Adam-and-Eve-Posters.jpg

When a "theory" isn't a theory

Many non-scientists use the words“hypothesis” and “theory” interchangeably (if they use ‘hypothesis” at all) and as synonyms for “idea.”

To a scientist, hypotheses are much more than an idea, much more than an “educated guess”; they are possible explanations based on numerous and repeatable observations (data). In the hierarchy of the scientific method, a theory is an even stronger statement than hypothesis.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the top scientific society in the United States, defines “theory” as “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Hypotheses and theories may begin as a bright idea, but they are so much more.

*(http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/evolution/qanda.shtml accessed 3-25-10)

photo credit: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-dreamstime-download-free-stock-images-and-photos-image1940874

Nature of Science, 2

So just what is science?

The dictionary explains that the word comes from the Latin “scientia” meaning “knowledge”, but there are different kinds of knowledge and different ways of accumulating knowledge. Science is the branch of knowledge built on observations of the natural world systematically arranged to reveal patterns. Scientists seek to discover and document these patterns and ultimately understand their underlying causes.

The purpose of science is to understand, explain, and to predict natural phenomena, it is not the purpose of science to judge, rank, or otherwise assign value to the phenomena—that’s the role of other ways of understanding the world, the role of philosophy, the arts, and religion.

Science is best suited to answer the “who, what, where” sorts of questions; the other paths of inquiry are better suited to answer questions related to the ultimate purpose of things.

Photo credit: http://undsci.berkeley.edu/images/us101/scientists.jpg

Getting batty

Many modern bats use echolocation to help navigate and capture prey in flight. Most echolocating bats produce the signal in their larynx, but a few species create echolocation sounds by tongue clicks, and other bats do not echolocate at all.

Scientists used CT scans to study the articulation of the ear bones in modern bats and found that the bats that use echolocation produced from the larynx have a distinctive articulation of the stylohyal bone with the tympanic bone not seen in the bats that do not echolocate or that use tongue clicks.

In other words, the ability to produce echolocation using the larynx is recorded in the skeletal structure of bats, and this makes it possible to look for this feature in fossil bats.

The oldest known fossil bat appears to have this distinctive articulation but a conclusive answer awaits more fossil finds.

First dino from Bulgaria

When it comes to dinosaurs, North America, China, and South America have decided advantages over other countries—they are large and have vast quantities of sedimentary rock deposited in ancient river or floodplain environments during the Mesozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs.

Recently the first dinosaur fossil from Bulgaria was described. It’s no Sue, the most complete T. rex ever found, but a single bone 10 cm long and 5 cm wide interpreted as the left humerous—the upper bone in the forelimb--of a Late Cretaceous Theropod—a European cousin to Sue.

The bone was found in limestone—a sedimentary rock usually deposited in a marine environment, but the isotopic signature of the bone differs from that of the limestone, indicating that the bone was probably transported into the shallow sea after burial and fossilization.

Source: MATEUS, OCTÁVIO; DYKE, GARETH J.; MOTCHUROVA-DEKOVA, NEDA; KAMENOV, GEORGE D.; IVANOV, PLAMEN. The first record of a dinosaur from Bulgaria. Lethaia, Volume 43, Number 1, March 2010 , pp. 88-94(7)

Carving up dino ecospace

Ecological theory explains that in order for more than one predator species to thrive in an ecosystem, the different species must occupy different niches, or roles, in the ecosystem.

Paleontologists have discovered an example of niche partitioning among different types of carnivorous dinosaurs: tyrannosaurs--the group that includes T. rex--and their sail-back cousins, the spinosaurs. Researchers analyzed the isotopic signature of spinosaur and tyrannosaur teeth and found that the oxygen isotope ratio of spinosaurs is lower than that of other theropods living in the same area at the same time.

The lower spinosaur ratio is a closer match to that of fossilized crocodiles and turtles from the same area. This match suggests that spinosaurs spent most of their time in or around aquatic habitats, a niche not occupied by the tyrannosaurs.

Source: Science News March 13, 2010, p. 18

Amiot, R., et al., Geology February, 2010