Tag: Australian Skeptics

May 14, 2010

How to assess evidence beyond your own expertise


Eran Segev, Australian Skeptics President spoke on ABC Radio National’s Ockham’s Razor program recently.
How do you assess evidence if it’s not your area of expertise?  Eran speaks about Skeptics “rules of thumb” to help guide us when assessing evidence.  Rules of thumb such as:

Ockham’s razor

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

Anecdote and testimonials are not reliable

Experts do know more

Trust the scientific method

Listen:

Or visit the ABC Ockham’s Razor site.

Worth listening to,  Mal.

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April 12, 2010

General Information (Originally posted at our old site)

We are the Victorian branch of the Australian Skeptics, a science-based organisation run by volunteers.
http://www.keypoint.com.au/~skeptics/skepbits/australia.gif The Skeptics encourage people to be careful about what they believe. Things that sound “too good to be true” – usually aren’t true! Science has revealed many amazing things, but amazing claims are also used to deceive and to rip-off innocent people.
The Skeptics also encourage thoughtful, rational exploration of the world around us, especially in matters considered ‘paranormal‘. To this end, the Skeptics are keen to promote scientific education and a sense of wonder in the natural world.
http://www.keypoint.com.au/~skeptics/skepbits/prism_sm.jpeg

Weird and Wonderful – Read about all manner of supernatural and scientific matters on our Articles page including these popular topics
Creation v Evolution – Sensing Murder – Bed of Nails – Murders and Clairvoyants – Homeopathy
(Yes, “sceptical” & “sceptics” are the correct spellings but we’re so clever we spell them with a k instead. 🙂

April 11, 2010

Sixth Annual Skeptics Trivia Extravaganza

Take Your Partners for the Sixth Annual Vic Skeptics Trivia Extravaganza

La Notte Restaurant

140 Lygon Street Carlton

Monday 17th May 2010

at the special time of 7.30 pm .

or join us for the traditional Third Monday meal at 6pm.

Previous Trivia Nights have been among our most popular events; – this year, get your team organised early , and if you’re having a meal at the restaurant before the Trivia, please arrive and order early.

If you can’t come equipped with a ready-made team, don’t stay home and mope! We can organise consortia of suitable intellects on the evening.

Lotsa individual and team prizes!

A donation is requested from each participant.

March 3, 2010

Dr Vaux's Talk Raises Concerns


At January 18th’s  Skeptics Cafe, Dr David Vaux, (Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) drew attention to a number of examples of lack of integrity by the authors of mainstream scientific research papers, including the manufacturing of data. These articles had been published in peak academic journals and had escaped their editorial processes. He attributed this largely to a lack of an Office of Research Integrity of the kind that exists in other countries. Dr Vaux’s talk caused concern among some of his listeners for the status of Australian research. Statements in 2004 (see Nature Article Feb 2004 )by the then opposition Senator Kim Carr, were supportive of such an oversight body. Senator Carr is now Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research but his government seems to have no immediate plans to proceed. If you wish to send a letter to your local MP in support of the enhancement of standards of research integrity in Australia, please click letter to MP to view and download an example. Contact details for Federal MPs can be found here: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/memlist.pdf
Ken

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March 3, 2010

Sixth Annual Skeptics Trivia Extravaganza

Take Your Partners for the Sixth Annual Vic Skeptics Trivia Extravaganza

La Notte Restaurant
140 Lygon Street Carlton
Monday 17th May 2010
at the special time of 7.30 pm .

or join us for the traditional Third Monday meal at 6pm.
Previous Trivia Nights have been among our most popular events; – this year, get your team organised early , and if you’re having a meal at the restaurant before the Trivia, please arrive and order early.
If you can’t come equipped with a ready-made team, don’t stay home and mope! We can organise consortia of suitable intellects on the evening.
This year even the prizes are more trivial!
A donation is requested from each participant.
Ken

March 3, 2010

Nature Article Feb 2004

NATURE|VOL 427 | 19 FEBRUARY 2004
Misconduct row fuels calls for reform
Carina Dennis,Sydney
A fierce row over misconduct allegations has prompted Australian researchers to call for an office of research integrity to be set up. The issue came to a head on 10 February, when Senator Kim Carr, research spokesman for the opposition Labor Party, released to parliament an unpublished report of an inquiry into allegations made about an immunologist at the University of New South Wales.
The case centres on Bruce Hall, a transplant immunologist working on graft tolerance. In 2001,Hall was accused by four complainants in his laboratory of fabricating and falsifying experimental results in an abstract and paper, providing false data in a grant application, misattributing authorship credit and workplace bullying. The experiments in question involved the use of cells from the immune system � called CD4_ T cells � to transfer graft tolerance to rats with transplanted hearts.Hall emphatically denies the allegations. View More Nature Article Feb 2004

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February 22, 2010

ABC Insiders, Vic Skeptics on Climate Change

Your Shout: Skeptics question climate policies
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 14/02/2010
Reporter: Barrie Cassidy
Phil Kafcaloudes from Radio Australia Today talks to Australian Skeptics in Melbourne about scepticism of Government and the Opposition.
PHIL KAFCALOUDES: Hi, I’m Phil Kafcaloudes, host of Radio Australia Today.
Well we certainly had a week for the sceptics here in Australia. We’ve got the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader both trying to sell their climate change policies. And we’ve just said farewell to the world’s best climate change sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton.
So what a week to sit down and have a coffee here in Melbourne with members of the group Australian Skeptics to see if they’re sceptical.
Okay, what is a sceptic?
SCEPTIC 1: The sceptics try to examine the evidence before making up their mind about something.
SCEPTIC 2: As sceptics we want to reclaim the word sceptic from those people who don’t believe in climate change.
SCEPTIC 3: People who tend to deny climate change, we tend to call them deniers. So I mean they’re not going with the evidence. They’re going, they’re usually cherry picking evidence. View More ABC Insiders, Vic Skeptics on Climate Change

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