Where are the scientists?

Question

I often hear people refer to scientists in very general statements such as "Scientist believe..." or "Scientists dicovered that...". I would like to know if there is a national science board or something similar, where I can read about new discoveries and advances without getting conflicting stories. I often hear of something that "scientists" discovered and all of the sudden these creationists start poping up to refute the claim. Pretty soon it becomes impossible to find the original discovery.

My main interests are in the forming of the universe, fossil evolution, and DNA advances. If anyone knows of any good scientific accredited sites where I wont hear "god did it" mumbo jumbo I would love to hear about them, thanks!

Answer 1

There is no one centralized clearing-house for scientific discoveries, though as a previous poster mentioned, much of the important new work is published in Science or Nature. Science News ( http://www.sciencenews.org/ ) is a good source of reasonably accurate science reporting for the layman, and cites sources so you can follow up.

Creationist anti-science arguments consist of a variety of misrepresentations and misinterpretations of science. http://www.talkorigins.org/ explains the real science behind many of those false claims and shows where and how the creationists bend the truth.

Answer 2

I agree that for a nonscientist, the best place to start is Science News. The articles are often straight distillations of very recent articles in Science, Nature, and the top-tier disciplinary journals.

For specific topics appearing in Science and Nature, go to the library and just get the journal. A summary of the journal article will appear in the News & Views section distilled for scientists outside of the specialty.

Scientific American is also an excellent place to get consensus science, although they're more of an interests magazine and less of an up-to-the-minute news service.

Answer 3

First of all, science comes up with theories all the time. Just because it isn't proven doesn't mean it doesn't have validity. Every single thing is pretty much a theory. It's up to you to be a discerning reader. The Theory Of Evolution is still a theory. There is ample evidence it seems to be true, at least in area's that can be tested.

1 + 1 = 2. Beyond that, I'm not convinced of anything. Either should you.

Answer 4

Several others already gave excellent answers, so I'll just add my two cents worth. I subscribe to a variety of newsletters put out by Biocompare. They have newsletters on a variety of topics, including genomics, molecular biology, and immunology, which deliver short summaries of some of the very recent important discoveries. The summary also mentions the author names and where/when the original data was published, so that you can go find the paper and read it for yourself if you wish. If you wish to subscribe, you can go to the home page for Biocompare (www.biocompare.com), where they have a list of newsletters and how to sign up.

Answer 5

There are NUMEROUS organizations of scientists. Each organization is for the leading scientists in their given field. In order to find scientific information, try looking in Nature and Science (journals). These are the leading journals for scientific developement, 1 is for America, the other for Europe.

Answer 6

Try this site - it's a collection of blogs written by scientists about science, politics, religion, you name it. And you WON'T hear 'god did it' from them!

http://www.scienceblogs.com