Matthew Jenkins' BlogA blog about Worcester, politics and the environment

Ben Goldacre, on his Bad Science blog, discusses some research into the effect of corrections on formerly held beliefs. The worrying outcome of this research is that for some people a correction, rather than changing their mind, actually makes them firmer in their belief. For instance:

conservatives who received a correction telling them that Iraq did not have WMD were more likely to believe that Iraq had WMD than people who were given no correction at all. Where you might have expected people simply to dismiss a correction that was incongruous with their pre-existing view, or regard it as having no credibility, it seems that in fact, such information actively reinforced their false beliefs.

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With planes over most of northern Europe grounded due to the Icelandic volcano sending ash into the sky, this may be a good time to reassess our relationship with flying. With predictions of up to a week of no planes, people are having to find alternative ways of travelling within our borders and beyond. The question is, once the flight ban is lifted, will people return to flying in the same numbers or will the experience of other modes of transport, particularly the train, lead to less flights? Read the rest of this entry »