{"id":42189,"date":"2021-07-05T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=42189"},"modified":"2021-07-19T15:16:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:16:37","slug":"how-science-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-science-works\/","title":{"rendered":"How Science Works: The 3 Basic Aspects of Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you understand how science works? Does it operate on proof or consensus? How does it handle uncertainty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science impacts all of us, so we would do well to understand how science works. It’s helpful to know the basics of the peer review process, how the scientific community deals with uncertainty<\/a>, and what scientists mean when they use the word “cause.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to learn the basics of how science works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Science Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of us don\u2019t really understand what science is or how science works. We think it\u2019s iron-clad proof that something is true. In reality, scientific knowledge is expert consensus\u2014a group of qualified scientists agrees that a claim is correct when there\u2019s enough evidence to support it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Peer Review Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Expert consensus comes from peer review. No science is considered legitimate until it passes peer review.<\/strong> The peer review process is a key element of how science works. Typically, the process works like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step #1:<\/strong> A scientist comes up with an idea, collects evidence to support it, writes a paper, and then submits it to a scientific journal for publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step #2:<\/strong> The journal sends the paper to three other scientists to review. Reviewers must be subject matter experts and mustn\u2019t have a close relationship<\/a> with the paper\u2019s author. They look for bad science and mistakes and provide comments. If the reviewers provide conflicting comments, the journal might send the paper to more scientists or the editor might provide notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step #3:<\/strong> The journal sends the reviewers\u2019 notes back to the paper\u2019s author to address. The author may write multiple drafts as she implements and receives new feedback. If the author ultimately fails to revise well enough, the journal won\u2019t publish the paper. The author has to start over or try a different (less prestigious) journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Science Deals With Uncertainty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How the scientific community deals with uncertainty is a critical aspect of how science works. Even after a paper has passed peer review and been published, there will always be some uncertainty regarding the details\u2014science is always evolving, so while we may know a lot, we\u2019re never going to know everything about any topic. <\/strong>This is normal and important\u2014it\u2019s what drives scientists to keep discovering new things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • For example, climate modelers can\u2019t effectively capture hurricanes because they\u2019re too small (on a global scale). <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    When presented with an uncertainty, the question shouldn\u2019t be whether there\u2019s any <\/em>doubt, but whether there\u2019s any reasonable <\/em>doubt.<\/strong> If there\u2019s reasonable doubt, the matter isn\u2019t settled. If there\u2019s doubt on the details, that\u2019s normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Science has gotten a lot done even though it was never designed to provide certainty\u2014for example, we landed astronauts on the moon. Feats like this don\u2019t prove that science is perfectly, objectively right, but they do suggest that when we act on the work of expert consensus, we can get a lot done.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Scientists Mean by “Cause”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Like science and scientific uncertainty, many of us don\u2019t understand how cause works.<\/strong> Knowing what scientists mean when they use the word \u201ccause\u201d is important to understand how science works. For example, we think that if smoking causes cancer, then if a person smokes, she\u2019ll definitely get cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In reality, it\u2019s more complicated than that. There are two types of causes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Statistical.<\/strong> This means that if you do something, you\u2019re more likely to see a particular outcome. (If you smoke, you\u2019re more likely to get cancer.)<\/li>
    2. Everyday.<\/strong> This means that once a particular result has come to pass, you can find the cause, but the cause isn\u2019t guaranteed to create that particular outcome every time. (Shortform example: If you fight with your partner because you\u2019re jealous, jealousy caused that particular fight. Jealousy often, but not always, causes fights.)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Now you know the basics of how science works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Do you understand how science works? Does it operate on proof or consensus? How does it handle uncertainty? Science impacts all of us, so we would do well to understand how science works. It’s helpful to know the basics of the peer review process, how the scientific community deals with uncertainty, and what scientists mean when they use the word “cause.” Read more to learn the basics of how science works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":42193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,160],"tags":[427],"class_list":["post-42189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-science","tag-merchants-of-doubt","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Science Works: The 3 Basic Aspects of Science - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you know how science works? 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