Real Science
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1. Use peer review to avoid fooling ourself.
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1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. [By-pass peer review. Let the journalists or marketing dep't decide.]
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2. Lets idea be judged on its own merits (peer review).
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2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work. [Claims a conspiracy is why idea not supported.]
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3. Signal to noise ratio is large and can be improved with more observations---this means that the real thing ("the signal") clearly stands out above all of the noise ("static"). Noise ("static") can be essentially removed in many cases because the effect ("the signal") is REAL and not some statistical fluke.
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3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection. [Scientific effect or conclusion barely there only after a lot of data "massaging".]
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4. Data is statistically sound, unbiased, independent testing of conclusions.
double blind = denoting a test or trial, esp. of a drug, in which any information that may influence the behavior of the tester or the subject is withheld until after the test.
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4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. [Relies on personal accounts (eye-witness or folklore) for its conclusions]
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5. Testable conclusions that have been independently tested. Experiments are the sole judge of truth.
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5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries. [Folklore.]
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6. Almost always a team effort
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6. The discoverer has worked in isolation. [Lone genius]
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7. Uses known physical forces that are measurable
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7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation. [Uses mystical forces that cannot be measured or proposes new physical laws.]
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