Modern science tells us so many amazing things about the world. But often we’re simply told the end result of years or decades of scientific inquiry, without any of the details of how scientists came to their conclusions. Lately, many scientific findings have stirred up quite a commotion in social, religious, and political circles, and many would-be defenders of science are becoming increasingly alienated by the, “Just trust us, this is how it works,” attitude of the scientific community. But just as in life, in science the journey is often every bit as fascinating as the destination, and some of the most fundamental assumptions we have about the world today are hard-fought, hard-won, and built on the works of many of the deepest thinkers the world has ever seen. So join me as I try to answer not, “What do we know?” but, “How do we know it?“
A brief note about the content on this blog: All of the text, and many of the illustrations, were created by me. You can assume that anything without a specific citation was created by me. I’m releasing all of this under a Creative Commons license, the terms of which are indicated in the link at the bottom of this page. Basically, you are free to use and modify this work, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, on the condition that you cite me as the original source, and provided that you release your derivative work under a similar open license. The illustrations that weren’t created by me are cited with their sources. In the cases where I’ve had to use someone else’s work, I’ve tried to make sure that the work is either in the public domain or released under some sort of open license. However, please do your own due diligence before using any of the cited material on this site for your own purposes.