Real Science Lives Out in the Open

El Watan, Egypt,  January 21

Science loves the sun and the light. It grows and flourishes in the pure air and out in the open. It evolves and grows over time: in peer-reviewed publications, in colloquiums, at conferences, and in labs found in research institutions around the world. Science seeks to be public. It isn’t meant to be conducted and discussed behind closed doors. Indeed, the biggest enemy of scientific discovery is secrecy. And yet an interesting phenomenon is growing ever more prevalent around us: individuals who stand up and speak against science – spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories and plots against proven facts – use “pseudoscience” to prove their point. Instead of sharing their research methods, experiments and findings, these individuals resort to appearing at press conferences and evening shows, where they announce their “findings” without any backing. However, any legitimate scientific finding should always be backed by the mechanisms and methods used to derive it. The true essence of scientific discovery is its reproducibility; that is, the ability of repeating an experiment several times, by different people found in different places, and obtaining the same result. Therein lies the importance of the scientific method. If one scientist discovers a certain physical law, that same law can be rediscovered and reproduced by Whang in China, George in England, Muhammad in Afghanistan, Akinyi in Kenya, or Haim in Israel. They should all arrive at the same result. What’s more, science is fueled by skepticism. At the very core of scientific discovery lies the notion of questioning and challenging assumptions. But, unlike in pseudoscience, skepticism doesn’t entail ignoring critical errors that are discovered during the experimental stage, refraining from peer reviewing one’s work, or choosing to avoid the publication of one’s research methodology. One of the biggest challenges we’re facing as a society today is the fact that the public can’t distinguish real science from pseudoscience. Those who propagate the latter resort to manipulative strategies that mislead our people and feed them with false information. – Khaled Montaser (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)