What is Science Anyway? Is
There Method in the
Madness?
Agenda
•  Introduction of what Science has been trying
to accomplish from ancient times to the
present.
•  Is there a method to the approach?
•  Some examples of types of Science that are
amenable to this approach?
•  Dishonesty?
•  Dependable?
•  Conclusions?
Charles Darwin - Evolution
•  Premise
–  Presumes the development of life from non-life and
stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) "descent with
modification".
–  Complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors
naturally over time through beneficial mutations over time
• 
Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor
advantageous genetic mutations
•  The less complicated and shorter life spanned plant or
animal is more likely to survive changes in environment
–  Example
•  Viruses mutate quickly – man takes a long time
Relative Time - Geology
•  The six main principles that geologists
consider when determining relative time,
include the following:
–  Original Horizontality
–  Lateral Continuity
–  Superposition
–  Cross-cutting Relationships
–  Inclusion
–  Faunal Succession
Scientific Method Start
•  No one person can be credited as the inventor
of the scientific method.
–  Aristotle (384–322 BCE) devised methods for
trying to arrive at reliable knowledge based on
observation
–  Roger Bacon (1214–1294), developed from
writings of Muslim scientists, described a
repeating cycle of observation, hypothesis,
experimentation, and verification
–  Galileo (1564–1642) is generally credited with
being the father of the scientific method
•  Many more contributed to the way that we
conduct science to complete the process as
shown on the next slide. .
Charles Darwin - Evolution
•  Premise
–  Presumes the development of life from non-life and
stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) "descent with
modification".
–  Complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors
naturally over time through beneficial mutations over time
• 
Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor
advantageous genetic mutations
•  The less complicated and shorter life spanned plant or
animal is more likely to survive changes in environment
–  Example
•  Viruses mutate quickly – man takes a long time
Relative Time - Geology
•  The six main principles that geologists
consider when determining relative time,
include the following:
–  Original Horizontality
–  Lateral Continuity
–  Superposition
–  Cross-cutting Relationships
–  Inclusion
–  Faunal Succession
New Enigmas
•  Light can act as both a wave and a particle?
•  We have light waves, electromagnetic waves, so
we should have gravity waves – how would one
detect them?
•  How many dimensions possibly exist?
•  Can we travel faster than the speed of light from
one place to another or are we doomed to slow
travel?
•  How many universes are there?
•  Will man be the saver of planet Earth or its
destroyer?
•  We had a beginning but was it THE beginning or
just a new phase of existence, or are we only one
small place in a multitude of Universes?
The Method
Here is an Example
Is the Sun Hot
Test with thermometer temp should be
higher in the sun
Measure temp in dark and light
Shows higher temperature in sun than in
dark
Measure temp in cloudy and sunny
Shows higher temp in sun than in cloud
Et Cetera Et. Cetera
Since the Sun is Hot then it should warm
the Earth
Take measurements everywhere at all
times of the year
It is warmer on some parts of the Earth
because the Sun is directly overhead
The Sun is not only hot but warms the Earth
Where there is a Sun and a body that goes
around the Sun the body is warmed by the Sun
Constructing the Hypothesis
The scientific method can be best described
as procedures used to learn about our
world.
Science cannot prove or disprove nonquantifiable factors, such as ESP.
Constructing the Hypothesis
•  Must be stated in a way that allows it to be
tested.
•  A testable hypothesis is one that at least
potentially can be proved false.
Constructing the Hypothesis
•  For example:
–  There are no mermaids in the sea
•  This is testable and can be proven false by finding
a mermaid
–  There are mermaids in the sea
•  This cannot be proven false, as the true believer
would say “They are there, you just didn’t find
them”
Constructing the Hypothesis
•  Variables are factors that might affect
observations
•  Models with variables one can alter – Laboratory
analysis
•  Ecological models – difficult to alter the variables.
Often only observations are used to determine
differences based on variability.
•  In Science - no absolute truths. No hypothesis
can be absolutely proven true in all places at all
times.
•  Make the best evaluation of the hypothesis with
available observable evidence.
What Is Bad About This?
•  Nothing bad because without the
method we would wander around
without a process
•  Good thing is the approach is based
upon a method that allows for checks
and balances.
•  This is not a “belief” approach. This
approach is an observation –
hypothesis -testing approach
•  Why is that so hard to understand
Some Definitions
• Scientific hypotheses – an unconfirmed explanation of an observation
that can be tested
• Scientific method – used to test hypotheses – ways scientists gather
data, formulate and test hypotheses.
• Peer review and publication – widely accepted – leads to scientific
theories and laws.
• Scientific theories – description of what we find happening through
repeated observations – verified and credible hypothesis
• Scientific (natural) laws – description of what we find happening, and
is proven over and over
• Frontier science – preliminary results – often subject to news stories
• Junk Science – no peer review
Some Examples of Where
The Method Works Very Well
– Some Basic Laws and
Concepts
Chemistry
What is Matter?
•  Atoms, ions and molecules
•  Anything that has mass and takes up
space.
•  Two forms:
–  Element – distinctive building blocks of matter
that make up every material substance
–  Compound – two or more different elements
held together by chemical bonds
What are the Basic Types of
Matter?
•  Organic compounds
–  Compounds containing carbon atoms
combined with each other and with atoms of
one or more other elements such as
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur,
phosphorus, chlorine, and fluorine.
•  Inorganic compounds
–  All compounds not classified as organic
compounds.
The Law of Conservation of Matter
•  Matter can be neither created or destroyed
•  Matter only changes form (eg. Gas to
liquid, solid to gas, solid to liquid, etc.)
•  There is no “away” – atoms cannot be
destroyed, just rearranged.
•  What are some examples of matter
changing form?
•  Ice – Water, Water - Vapor, Mineral –
Elements or Compounds – Elements,
Fusion of Atoms – New Elements
Physics
First Law of Thermodynamics
•  Energy is neither created nor destroyed
•  Energy can only change form (light to heat, friction to
heat, etc.)
•  You can’t get something for nothing
–  Or “There is no such thing as a free lunch!”
•  ENERGY IN = ENERGY OUT
•  Heat energy in – absorbed
•  Change surroundings – Heat Energy out
» OR
•  You cannot win (that is, you cannot get something for
nothing, because matter and energy are conserved).
Energy
•  Kinetic
–  Wind
–  Electicity
–  Flowing water
•  Potential
–  Water behind a dam
–  Gasoline in your car
–  Unlit match
Second Law of Thermodynamics
•  In every transformation, some energy is
converted to heat
•  You cannot break even in terms of energy
quality. (you cannot return to the same energy
state, because there is always an increase in
disorder; entropy always increases).
A Second Law of Thermodynamics Example
Waste energy is
low quality and
cannot be reused
Third Law of Thermodynamics
•  You cannot get out of the game (because
absolute zero is unattainable).
Biology
Law of Tolerance
•  The existence, abundance and distribution
of a species is determined by levels of one
or more physical or chemical factors.
Common Limiting Factors
•  Limiting factors – more important in regulating
population growth than other factors.
•  Terrestrial ecosystems (on land)
–  precipitation
–  temperature
–  soil nutrients
•  Aquatic ecosystems
–  temperature
–  sunlight
–  nutrients
–  dissolved oxygen
–  salinity
Are Scientists Honest?
Dishonesty
•  As scientists, we like to think that science is
a bastion of virtue, untouched by science
fraud
•  There are motivators for scientists to commit
misconduct – money for research and fame
are two
•  There are no "scientific police" who are
trained to fight scientific crimes; all
investigations are made by experts in
science but amateurs in dealing with
criminals
Some Examples of Cheating
•  Joachim Boldt (drug research), stripped of his professorship, under
criminal investigation for possible forgery of up to 90 research
studies.
•  Ohio University had a plagiarism crisis in the 2000s when severe
plagiarism in MS theses was discovered. This resulted in the firing of
two tenured professors, Dr. Gunasekara and Dr. Mehta of the
Mechanical Engineering Department and multiple institutional
changes. Plagiarism included that by current professor at Miami
University
•  Eric Poehlman, a researcher on aging at the University of Vermont,
was prosecuted for grant fraud in 2005 after falsifying data in as
many as 17 grant applications in a period of over eight years. He
was the first academic in the United States to be jailed for falsifying
data in a grant application.
This May Put Cheating in
Perspective
Can you Depend upon the
results of Research to be
Correct?