Weekly Five (Science Links)

A day late, but it is the long weekend. Victoria Day, in other words. Queen Victoria's birthday. Not that we're thinking about her, of course; what we're really celebrating is summer just around the corner.

Here's what I found interesting in science blogs and news this week:

1: Climate change: A guide for the perplexed From NewScientist.com news service, a "round-up of the 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions." A handy reference.

2: From grrlscientist, at Living the Scientific Life, Gay Flamingos ... Raise a Chick. What the title says. With a great photo of a flamingo chick in a fake egg.

3: From denialism blog, a new blog I am finding fascinating, "Denialists Deck of Cards: The 9 of Spades, "Exploit Others' Ignorance". Although one would wish that they didn't put half the post in the title.

This is part of a series of tactics used by denialists of all stripes. This one, in particular, pinpoints a technique that has had a large and pernicious impact on some members of my family. (I may end up blogging about this.)

4: Joel Pel, in the Science Creative Quarterly, generates and tests the formula that describes Murphy's Law:

Ground-breaking research!

5: At the Cognitive Daily, Greta and Dave Munger report on a glitch in our assessments of popular opinion: How to make your personal opinion seem "popular". They explain (although they don't bring this up) why your kid comes home telling you that "everybody" is buying/going/doing whatever. And when you phone up a couple of other parents, it turns out that their kid (a) says exactly the same thing, (b) definitely is not b/g/d it and (c) can not identify more than one person in the category "everybody". And why one loudmouth can browbeat a whole group into compliance.

Something to think about. Especially, how have we (I) been influenced by one-man peer pressure? How does listening to the same person tell you the same thing every day or once a week (a family member, pastor, news commentator, etc.) lead you to consider his views to reflect the general consensus?

Hmmmm...