The Nature of Science and Extrapolations in Scientific Investigations

Textbook: 1.2-`1.4 and 1.7

Science

More a process than a fixed body of facts

Scientific Knowledge

Continuously tested ideas with evidence (advances overtime)

Science’s Benefits

Enables advances in tech., safety, environmental prediction and control, reproduction, and space exploration

Thinking Like a Scientist

Assuming nature can be understood through systematic study, scientific ideas are open to revision, sound ideas endure overtime, and there are limits

Nature

Scientists view nature as governed by natural laws (understandable)

Paradigm Shifts

Radical change in scientific ideas replacing old theories with new ones (given the name by Thomas Kuhn - 1967)

Germ Theory (key example)

Contagious diseases are caused by microorganisms (Girolamo Francastoro and Anton van Leeuwenhoek)

Germs

Cause disease by invading, reproducing, and harming living hosts

Observational Studies

Measure characteristics in a sample without manipulating variables

Cross-Sectional Studies (1 of 3 Types)

Used to identify links between variables - weak

Case-Control Studies (2 of 3 Types)

Compares people with a trait (cases) to those without (controls) - inaccurate due to bias

Cohort Studies (3 of 3 Types)

Follows a group (cohort) overtime - accurate but costly

Models in Science

Simplified representation of the real world

Model Organisms

Nonhuman species studied to gain insights into human bio.