NewsFix
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

Scientific terminology the public often gets wrong

2 posters

Go down

Scientific terminology the public often gets wrong Empty Scientific terminology the public often gets wrong

Post by Ben Reilly Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:55 pm

As in: "it's just a theory."

Hypothesis. Theory. Law. These scientific words get bandied about regularly, yet the general public usually gets their meaning wrong.

Now, one scientist is arguing that people should do away with these misunderstood words altogether and replace them all with the word "model." But those aren't the only science words that cause trouble, and simply replacing the words with others will just lead to new, widely misunderstood terms, several scientists said.

"A word like 'theory' is a technical scientific term," said Michael Fayer, a chemist at Stanford University. "The fact that many people understand its scientific meaning incorrectly does not mean we should stop using it. It means we need better scientific education," he said.

Source
Ben Reilly
Ben Reilly
King of Texas. Gigantic Killer Robot. Robin Hood of Epping Forest. Fifty Shades of Cray.

Posts : 30682
Join date : 2013-01-19
Age : 49
Location : West Essex

http://www.newsfixboard.com

Back to top Go down

Scientific terminology the public often gets wrong Empty Re: Scientific terminology the public often gets wrong

Post by veya_victaous Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:15 pm

agree with the latter,

I annoys me when people say "it's only a theory", you're cousins hairbrained theory on why Obama is secrectly a Mexican is just a theory, but 'the Theory of' means something completely different, the only reason most of 'the Theory of' Theories are not Science Fact is because we don't have Second Earth or a Billion years to run the experiments to prove it.
veya_victaous
veya_victaous
The Mod Loki, Minister of Chaos & Candy, Emperor of the Southern Realms, Captain Kangaroo

Posts : 19114
Join date : 2013-01-23
Age : 41
Location : Australia

Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum