What is Scientific: Definition and 547 Discussions
Science (from the Latin word scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age. The recovery and assimilation of Greek works and Islamic inquiries into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th century revived "natural philosophy", which was later transformed by the Scientific Revolution that began in the 16th century as new ideas and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions. The scientific method soon played a greater role in knowledge creation and it was not until the 19th century that many of the institutional and professional features of science began to take shape; along with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science."Modern science is typically divided into three major branches that consist of the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), which study nature in the broadest sense; the social sciences (e.g., economics, psychology, and sociology), which study individuals and societies; and the formal sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science), which deal with symbols governed by rules. There is disagreement, however, on whether the formal sciences actually constitute a science as they do not rely on empirical evidence. Disciplines that use existing scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine, are described as applied sciences.New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems. Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and research institutions, government agencies, and companies. The practical impact of their work has led to the emergence of science policies that seek to influence the scientific enterprise by prioritizing the development of commercial products, armaments, health care, public infrastructure, and environmental protection.
Just a quick question!
I'm writing a report for a unit that is meant to be written according to a "standard scientific report" format.
So for the most part I know how to set it out, but I was just wondering about my calculations.
I observed a star and to make sure that it was the right...
Can somebody explain to me the values, operating principles, aims, role of government, method and example of government involvement, possible problem, and strengths in those 2 type of socialism?
"string theory is a complete scientific failure" by Daniel Friedan
to make it clear, I am quoting Daniel Friedan, a former string theorist at Rutgers from hep-th/0204131
"The long-standing crisis of string theory"
"String theory has no credibility as a candidate theory of physics...
There are many misconceptions about things and people in our society. I say one of the most misunderstood groups in America is scientists.
Can you give some of the many misconceptions of Science,Physics, scientists,and physicists?
I would like to know what are the software tools most used to:
-write scientific papers;
-do graphics;
-do statistical analysis.
At the moment, I'm using LaTex to write my scientific papers, and R to make some graphics... What do you think about these?
I draw the forum’s attention to the fact that the so-called Schwarzschild solution is not Schwarzschild’s solution. This can be easily verified by reading Schwarzschild’s original paper. Furthermore, the all too frequent claim that Schwarzschild obtained the black hole from his solution is...
There is a lot of debate going on in the media and on forums like these as to whether or not anthropogenic global warming is real.
Here is a link to an article in the AAAS Science Magazine that states there is no disagreement between climate scientists as to the consensus, not majority or...
Most scientific papers are probably wrong!?
from New Scientist.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7915
Well that would certainly undermine the credibility of the scientific community.
The rush to publish could be a factor, as well as publications from questionable work, e.g...
The question isn't whether a theory is testable now, it's whether it's testable in principle. For example, there's nothing in our current understanding of string theory that precludes it from being falsifiable. The main problem for string theory is the same problem that continues to torture the...
Coca-cola TM (maker of Gatorade TM) has filed a lawsuit against Pepsi TM (maker of Powerade TM) in a federal court:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060321/ap_on_bi_ge/pepsi_coke_lawsuit
:smile:
Scientific evidence to prove religions??
Since there is already another thread taking into count religion and science,I thought of posting this thread here.
I found this site actually from a link from a commercial on the main site here.
The auther clearly trying to prove a religion by using...
Are there any sort of essays or generally accepted criteria for accepting one theory over another? I ask, becuase for most any theory, it seems that you can find evidence for it. If you did your research, you could come up with tons of evidence for a totally wrong theory (like all the evidence...
In https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=105441", I expressed my unease with the great number of as-yet unexplained entities and parameters that are required to keep concordance cosmology on its feet. I have a philosophical and ultimately mathematical reason for this unease, and it has...
I've met and read about many researchers who study more than one field,
usually studying one field of science with applications using math/cs or a crossbreed eg biochem, biophys, biopsych etc.
As some of you have guessed from my posts, my ambitions lie in using 3D simulations(math/cs) for...
I know there has to be a program better than Microsoft Word. When I try to move images/graphs around in MS Word they jump around all over the place. I end up having to reformat a paper 20 times because everytime I add a image, it effects the whole paper.
Or if MS Word is popular how do you...
Hello folks,
I'm a budding physicist who needs advice on science-related software that's used in The Real World (TM). I've recently had a look at Octave, Maxima, matplotlib (python plotting), gnuplot, Ocaml and "The R environment for statistical computing". Problem is, I can't make up my mind...
I know zip about biology, but I know a little physics. Before Einstein's general theory of relativity challenged it, the prevailing scientific theory of gravitation was Newton's theory. In the minds of most physicists, the issue was resolved in favor of Einstein's theory as a result of an...
Hey crew,
Playing around with the aforementioned software and I am finding myself becoming agitated that I am continually having to switch between Text and Math.
Hit enter, and its back to Text. What I want to do is make it Math always until I decide to toggle. Not sure if this is...
What are some scientific ideas you think had the greatest impact on society? It'd be nice to have a few that aren't "obvious."
(don't mention the transistor :-p)
I am doing a 30 minute presentation on scientific racism that will focus on IQ tests, standarized tests, and eugenics. If anyone has any information that would help me I would appreciate it. I am against the information that claims white individuals are genetically superior.
I have so far...
One interesting notion that strikes me from time to time, like now, is that if String Theory [ M Theory] is correct or nearly so, the greatly anticipated theory of everything, or TOE, is not a theory of science and never can be. Rather, M theory stands as a philosophical proposition, and it...
NewScientist: "Most scientific papers are probably wrong"
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7915
This is no surprise to me if we are considering papers in the social sciences. But I wonder what those of you in the other sciences think about this?
This is probably slightly off-topic, so I must begin my post apologizing for that. :smile:
I am seeking a free scientific word processor that can do something similar to the tex bracket command on this board, so that I may make symbols for integration, differentiation, summation, et. al...
OK, for once, *I* don't quite know where to put this (since it covers almost the whole gamut of issues). I'll move it if I find a good suggestion on where it should go.
In any case, if you are in the US, or any vested interest in how poorly civilian scientific endeavor is being supported, you...
hi...can someone pls suggest a scientific breakthrough (recently:2-3 yrs) that is related in physics..aomething easy to understand yet interesting...please please please...super thank you! :smile:
Anyone of you guys read this month's Scientific American??
The one on that our inflationary model of our Universe may have to be modified due to the unpredicted patterns of the mono-poles and dipoles and other multi-poles of the CMB. Certain harmonic Spheres were missing?
then they talked...
Due to a peculiar combination of events, I've been thinking about human nature and the nature of scientific inquiry... a scary thought. For example, how does a scientist answer the question 'why is the universe exactly the size it is [feel free to insert the gravitational constant, speed of...
Martial artists or people who are interested in martial arts probably heard of "dim mak", where a person can paralyze or kill an opponent by applying a force into some "pressure points" in his body. It's like what some of us saw in Kill Bill 2 when Beatrix finishes off Bill using this art. I...
This is a very entertaining reading. It does give a bit of a glimpse of the "actual practice" (if there is such a thing) of the inquiry process within the daily workings of physicists.
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0506191
The title does imply that there may be other future parts to this...
Peer-reviewed journal articles are probably the most well known medium for scientific communication, but oral and/or graphically presented material can be just as important. How much importance was put on sound oral communication skills in your undergraduate or graduate careers? Were there...
i am still under the impact of revenge of the sith
and i wonder one thing so much related to those Jedi skills:
is there any formal scientific evidence about human beings being able to move/fire/destroy... things with nothing but thoughts and/or by forming energy waves or whatever with...
Scientific Method.
1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.
2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation.
3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the...
hi,
could anyone please advise me on hand-drawing a line graph (this is for a scientific lab) graphing the following values?
X
-2.92
-3
-3.09
-3.22
-3.40
Y
-0.86
-0.91
-1.02
-1.15
-1.28
My teacher said he wanted the values to fill the page, but to still be able to see the...
A pole of scientists gives a surprising variety of opinions:
Address:http://www.spiked-online.com/sections/science/sciencesurveyA-B/default.htm
The one that stood out to me, in the context of PF, was: "Science is disputative."
Alot of people echoed Feynman's answer to this question...
First of all, if you haven't read Moonbie's journal entry on this, YOU SHOULD!
I have decided to start a thread on this because I have a few "opinions" and questions on it, and I didn't think it was appropriate to add them as comments. So Moonbie, I hope you don't mind...
What does it...
holy cow i feel dumb...
i know these are super easy but i just can't figure it out.
1. --- (10^2)^8 divided by (10^-2)^3
2. --- 1.2x10^-6 divided by 4.2x10^-2
if anyone can give me a kick in the brain it would be awsome
1.--- 10^22?
2. -- 2.9x10^5??
After reading about the scientific method here and there in this forum, I'm considerably confused. Would someone be so kind as to explain the scientific method. And, perhaps, comment on its applicability to the day-to-day activities of working scientists, Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Reilly...
Hi,
I'm interested in learning just how scientific research is done—specifically for Astrophysics. I would like to start some preliminary research for the Siemens-Westinghouse competition in October, but I'm wondering if research can be done in Astrophysics without a multi-billion dollar...
Ive dowloaded the first chapter they have available in .pdf and thought it was a great read. Wondering if any of you have read this and would like your input on what this guy has to say. What he proposes in the first chapter vastly impacts our views of physics and how the universe works.
Ive...
course called "scientific and engineering computation"
I am taking a course called "scientific and engineering computation" using the MATLAB program and I was just wondering where should I post questions on this topic?
Does the scientific method mark the coexistence between belief and actual science, and describe tenets that involve a religion of information? Its prediction of world events may apply equally to measuring the electron's mass, or consequently to the conviction in its own efficacy.
The...