ASTR1020 Homework -- Dr. Doug Duncan

Read one of the following articles that concern subjects on the "fringes" of science..  Then write a paper of about one page length that discusses:

  1. What is most attractive to you about the subject you chose?  What do you think appeals to many people about the subject?

  2. Do you think that the subject works the way practitioners say that it does?

  3. What kind of test would convince you what is really going on?  Does the test have a placebo?

  4. Consider our class lists (on-line) of Good Science and Common Elements of Pseudoscience. Which aspects of these does the subject contain?

  5. Do you think the discussions in our class have made a difference in what you write?  (Would you write the same comments if you never took this class?)

Here are the articles: