Alex Berezow

Category: Science: The Softer Side

  • Patent Judges Should Be Scientists, Too

    Patents are the lifeblood of biotechnology, the force that motivates companies to develop innovative medical treatments and bring them to market. The trouble is that these patents must be enforced in a court system that isn’t set up to adjudicate highly technical matters—resulting in rulings that seem arbitrary or even scientifically suspect. Read the rest…

  • Founding Editor Alex Berezow Says Farewell

    RealClearScience was launched in October 2010. The RealClear family, headed by founders John McIntyre and Tom Bevan, took a gamble and hired me, a freshly minted PhD in microbiology, to take the helm of a new science journalism website. I owe the beginning of my professional career to them, and I am happy to report…

  • Obama Is Not a Scientist. JAMA Shouldn’t Pretend He Is

    The Journal of the American Medical Assn. recently published a very unusual article: a scientific study authored by a sitting president of the United States. That’s never happened before. Read the rest at the Los Angeles Times.

  • Science Issues 2016: Trump vs. Clinton

    This article was originally posted on RealClearScience. The 2016 presidential election has been conspicuously light on substance, particularly on matters of science and policy. In an effort to provide some clarity to voters who place an emphasis on science, we have created a chart that scores the presumptive Republican and Democratic Party candidates on key…

  • Would President Trump Be a Science Guy?

    Science is one of America’s most important strategic resources. With just 5% of earth’s population, we produce over 30% of the world’s science and lead the world in Nobel prizes. Now that Donald Trump has a realistic chance of becoming the 45th president of the United States, it’s time to ask: What would that mean…

  • Consensus Is Part of the Scientific Method

    I like to imagine the scientific method as resembling the solar system. The planets, traveling in perfect orbits, represent the pillars of the scientific method: Observations, hypotheses, predictions/experiments, and continuous refinements. What holds all of this together — the inward tug of gravity in this analogy — is consensus.

  • Maths Study Shows Conspiracies ‘Prone to Unravelling’

    It’s difficult to keep a conspiracy under wraps, scientists say, because sooner or later, one of the conspirators will blow its cover. A study has examined how long alleged conspiracies could “survive” before being revealed – deliberately or unwittingly – to the public at large. Read the rest at BBC News. 

  • Real-Time Reaction Polls Distort TV Debates

    Though voters like to think of themselves as independently minded, the reality is that they are rather easily influenced by the opinions of others.

  • Unprecedented Two-Front Assault on Academia

    Research cannot thrive in the face of anti-intellectual aggression.

  • Portland’s Congressman Loves Pot, Hates Science

    Given that Portland’s citizens have a troubled relationship with reality, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that the city’s congressman does, too.