As suggested here, we certainly do seem to be of two different minds when it comes to science. We don’t challenge the science behind newly developed medications to treat disease, evacuating in front of hurricanes, or sending stuff to Mars. …
Category: Renewables – Science
Let’s Admit How Little We Know
Please check out the “DK” curve at left. From Bertrand Russell: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
We’re Not Big on Science
Senior engineer Wally Rippel (pictured), who contributed the chapter on cold fusion for my first book (Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies), likes to perform an exercise when he speaks in public:
Oh, Wait. That’s a Joke?
Has anyone else noticed that it’s getting harder to recognize the difference between humor from news? As our world disintegrates into ignorance and hate, perhaps this shouldn’t come as a shock, but I have to confess that I’m having a …
Why So Little Interest in Separating Truth from Lies?
At left is the late astronomer Carl Sagan’s theory as to how we came to live in a post-truth world. Whether or not it’s correct remains to be seen, but one thing’s sure: we certainly do require an explanation as …
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Tagged with: pathological liar
Behavioral Psychology At Work in Cleaning Up the Environment
What happened when the facilities managers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport etched houseflies on the bottom-back of the men’s room urinals? Far less urine wound up spilled on the floor, as men had something to aim at.
Did the Butterfly Effect Help Clean a Polluted River?
Over 200 years ago, German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte said, “You could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby … changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole.”
Applying Science in the U.S.–Don’t Expect Too Much
The piece to the left here was posted to social media by Paul Scott, co-founder of Plug In America, whom I met when I was asked to moderate a panel on electric transportation almost exactly 10 years ago (April, 2009). …
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Fraudulent Concepts in Cleantech
Whenever I bash a cleantech concept as being fraudulent or asinine, I do so at the risk of push-back from the promoter or one of his fans. A few months ago, I disparaged the inventor of the Eco-Gen Joulebox (see …
What Can Nature Teach Us?
There are probably a dozen posts here on biomimicry, the science of looking at nature for clues as to designing things and solving problems. As the subject’s most visible spokesperson, Janine Benyus, says in her fabulous Ted Talk, “For centuries …
