"... reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." - Richard P. Feynmann, Report of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident

https://web.archive.org/web/20251231045113*/https://www.nasa.gov/history/rogersrep/v2appf.htm

#OTD #ScienceIsReal #Challenger #StandUpForScience

Why trust science? Thoughtful essay but I think you can boil it down further:
TLDNR:
- employs rigorous methods
- acknowledges failures — and adjusts
- is primarily incremental with strong foundations, not spur-of-the-moment or opinion based.
- breakthroughs are tested, not just accepted.
- it changes as knowledge accumulates. That's not a bad thing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/opinion/science-trust.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CFA.tacX.ZqVoY6xoEakd&smid=url-share
#ScienceMatters #ScienceIsReal
Opinion | Science Keeps Changing. So Why Should We Trust It?

Naïve faith and wholesale pessimism are not your only options.

The New York Times
The Trump Administration’s Most Paralyzing Blow to Science

Cuts to research may have spoiled the country’s appetite for bold exploration.

The Atlantic

Using powers of 2 before there were numbers

Researchers think northern Mesopotamian pottery shards from over 7,000 years ago show evidence of geometry, symmetry, and spatial long division

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a69801345/first-evidence-of-math/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

#MathFTW #ScienceIsReal #pottery #archaeology

Archaeologists Uncovered the First Evidence of Math—Before Numbers Were Even Invented

Halafian culture arranged floral depictions on pottery with symmetry and numerical sequences, displaying one of the earliest pieces of mathematical thinking.

Popular Mechanics
@petergleick
One nation race to the bottom...
Return to the Dark Ages...
Self-inflicted disaster (Krugman)...
Self-inflicted wound (Altschuler and Wippman)...
Nightmare.
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5489477-american-brain-drain-is-a-colossal-self-inflicted-wound
#ScienceMatters #ScienceIsReal #antiscience
AP finds hundreds of anti-science bills hit statehouses in 2025

More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year. It's part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law. An Associated Press investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Around 30 have been enacted or adopted. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society.

AP News

So frazzled - need a couple Tylenol. Trying to wrap my mind around the news that everyone who’s not MAGA is now officially a terrorist.

#Tylenol #ScienceIsReal #MAGA #NoRepublicansEverAgain

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3843 - 750K workers at HHS and CDC send letter about RFKJR misinformation. https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-3843-750k.html #Misinformation #rfkjr #scienceisreal #CDC #HHS #hhsgov