Evidence and logic are lacking in many areas of public debate today on hot-button issues ranging from dietary fat to vaccination. In Science Under Attack, Dr. Alexander shows how science is being abused, sidelined or ignored, making it difficult or impossible for the public to form a reasoned opinion about important issues. Readers will learn why science is becoming more corrupt, and also how it is being abused for political and economic gain, support of activism, or the propping up of religious beliefs. To illustrate how science is being ignored and abused, the author examines six different issues and the way they are currently discussed: evolution, dietary fat, climate change, vaccination, GMO crops and continental drift. In his research, he has gone back to the original source wherever possible rather than quoting second-hand sources, adding a degree of accuracy and nuance often missing. The controversial assertion that science does not support the conventional wisdom on climate change should be of particular interest. Alexander shows that the scientific evidence for a substantial human contribution to climate change is actually flimsy, and he demonstrates the fallacy of comparing the strong link between smoking and lung cancer to the much weaker connection between human activity and global warming.

Modern science is under the greatest and most successful attack in recent history. An industry of denial, abetted by news media and "info-tainment" broadcasters more interested in selling controversy than presenting facts, has duped half the American public into rejecting the facts of climate science—an overwhelming body of rigorously vetted scientific evidence showing that human-caused, carbon-based emissions are linked to warming the Earth. The industry of climate science denial is succeeding: public acceptance has declined even as the scientific evidence for global warming has increased. It is vital that the public understand how anti-science ideologues, pseudo-scientists, and non-scientists have bamboozled them. We cannot afford to get global warming wrong—yet we are, thanks to deniers and their methods. The Inquisition of Climate Science is the first book to comprehensively take on the climate science denial movement and the deniers themselves, exposing their lack of credentials, their extensive industry funding, and their failure to provide any alternative theory to explain the observed evidence of warming. In this book, readers meet the most prominent deniers while dissecting their credentials, arguments, and lack of objectivity. James Lawrence Powell shows that the deniers use a wide variety of deceptive rhetorical techniques, many stretching back to ancient Greece. Carefully researched, fully referenced, and compellingly written, his book clearly reveals that the evidence of global warming is real and that an industry of denial has deceived the American public, putting them and their grandchildren at risk.

A conservative scientist and journalist explodes the media hype surrounding such perceived threats as Alar, Agent Orange, dioxin, and food irradiation in this provocative, hard-hitting defense of modern technology. He exposes the political intrigues and agenda that have led to the media's one-sided reportage of everything from video terminal fallout to Love Canal.

In an era when many in the science community feel that science is under attack, In Defense of Science explains why ordinary citizens need to have an understanding of science, its methods, and its groundbreaking discoveries. The authors debunk several misconceptions of science and scientists, and advocate that science is an integral part of society and everyday life. This book begins with an introduction to science and its basic concepts, including a brief and entertaining history of science and scientific discoveries, before taking on current views of science in society. It surveys the many sources of our ideas of science, including pop culture, classics of literature, news media, and political discourse. Much of the information from these sources tends to mislead, and the only way to guard against such misinformation is to become scientifically literate, and promote scientific literacy in society. The book therefore delves into the reasons that so many people do not understand basic scientific principles and do not keep up with scientific breakthroughs, and finishes by examining the current state of science education. It includes many resources for further reading, and is presented in an engaging and entertaining way.

The popular debate about the teaching of intelligent design in public schools is but one quandary for scientists and policy makers. Given recent developments which have worked to breed a general distrust of science, it is evident that researchers and politicians alike should be wary of using popular opinion as a guide for policy and pedagogy when it comes to science in public education. Dr. Krauss will qualify this complex issue and will address how educators, policy makers and scientists can work effectively to prevent public misconceptions of science.

On Saturday 29 November 2008, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW held a forum with the theme of Science under siege. As the RZS is a zoological society, zoology under threat became the secondary theme and the basis for selecting speakers. This book records that forum with the papers developed for this book as the written word from the spoken presentations. Papers that were presented as posters are included, as are the edited plenary sessions which featured questions from the floor, with answers and comments encouraged from anyone in the forum. We were delighted that Mark Horstman, from ABC Catalyst, was willing to replace his peripatetic colleague Paul Willis, who was nonetheless very happy to write the foreword. There is a place for such skilled science communicators, we need more of them, and scientists at the lab bench, or in the field, or exploring computer models, or those that have now taken a job in the policy world, need to stay in touch with them. Some might say that the title “Science under siege” seems a bit extreme, but we invite you to examine the evidence as presented in this book. What follows is an edited version of the introductory material that advertised the forum: The title looks dramatic, but if you ask yourself, “is anything killing the science in your area of interest?” you might be surprised that you come up with a point or two. Then ask a wider set of questions, such as: are there any pressures that preclude people from doing good zoology; do either political/budgetary constraints impact on your field; is science in the media a subject that influences the outcome of your work; are there economic impediments to careers in zoology; is the education mix in Australia right for this new century; are the best researchers becoming full-time administrators, or the converse, the poor researchers becoming the administrators; can you place the Australian situation in an international context; are there reduced opportunities for human interactions with the natural world; is the virtual world killing reality; and what are your predictions of the future? To deal with such issues, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW has structured the day to emphasize a range of themes, beginning with identifying the issues, including those that are persistent and those that are emerging, and encompassing palpable hits to science. Direct and indirect hits to science include such matters as the withdrawal of funding, subversion of science, death by 1000 cuts, redirection of funding to fashion issues and using the name of science to justify things that are really not justifiable. The name of science is being dragged down. We need to confront the ever-present problem of ignoring the scientifically accurate for the politically correct. This raises such questions as to whether basic skills in biology are not being acquired because of public concern based on extreme animal rights propaganda. Good science is not optional, but what can be done if you are under siege? The answers include understanding the philosophy of science, the legal perspective and asking what scientists are (or should be) doing. Audience participation will be a central part of this forum. The plenary sessions will address questions raised by the speakers, and the posters, and debate issues and consider options for future directions. It is widely known that it is hard to pull a major paper together on this theme, but so many scientists know of at least one matter that they would like to draw to public attention. So, short contributions are included. Listen to the speakers present some overarching themes or compelling case studies, contribute to the debate on the day, then examine your stance on a variety of these subjects to see whether the day changes your view of this often cryptic aspect of zoology. As editors, we wish to acknowledge the skills of the referees (all papers were refereed by two peers), and the patience of the authors for what has been a long gap between the date of the forum and this publication. By the end of 2008, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, along with everyone else, was caught by the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) and we simply had to extend the length of the queue for publication. We also reassessed our mode of publication. The Council of the Society voted to publish this production as an ebook, as well as a short print run for formal library deposit, and other essential matters. The ebook is open access to enhance the reach of the papers and the ideas. At the same time, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW signed a contract for a more international mode of access of the publications of the Society, and papers are now available via Metapress. http:// rzsnsw.metapress.com Science remains under siege, in our view, and now we have been alerted to the range of issues it becomes easier to spot the small, irritating closing of options that collectively amount to a denial of science and its relegation to an optional way of looking at the world. During production of this book, this matter became obvious on a number of fronts, which led us to invite the paper by Rosie Cooney and colleagues to defend their science of kangaroo conservation and commercial harvesting from an attack on the science. We also saw that this issue of science under siege needs more airing, and the Royal Zoological Society of NSW is planning its forum for the end of 2012 to take up another strand of this theme by capitalizing on the lifelong insights of scientists under the rubric of “grumpy scientists: an ecological conscience of a nation”. This idea in fact derives directly from the suggestions in the plenary sessions by Nick Holmes and Charley Krebs. We are also concerned for young scientists, with science under siege manifesting often in a failure to create permanent careers for science graduates that advance science itself, and zoology in particular, from flourishing and identifying problems and finding solutions. If we want to conserve the native fauna of Australia, then Australian zoologists will have to be key team members. We contend that to put science under siege, and zoology under threat, we not only further imperil our native wildlife, but also the careers of the small band of specialists that can see the issues, find the problems, implement solutions and evaluate the outcomes. In short, science under siege is not a light matter and no one in this forum thought so. Read on, form an opinion, and speak up and publish your thoughts, your examples and your solutions.