Why 'science' is science (this is so cool!)

Einstein passes cosmic test
General relativity fits survey observations but there's still room for its rivals
By Zeeya Merali, Scientific American
10 March 2010
It's another victory for Einstein -- albeit not a resounding one. General relativity has been confirmed at the largest scale yet. But the galactic tests used to put the theory through its paces cannot rule out all rival theories of gravity.
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The team's test rules out a version of the tensor-vector-scalar, or TeVeS, model, proposed in 2004, which modifies gravity using a set of interacting fields to mimic dark matter. This model was already struggling to explain observations of galactic collisions that seem to show direct evidence of dark matter3, says Reyes. "Our test is another blow to TeVeS," says Reyes. However, she notes, more complicated versions of TeVeS could well pass the test.

The team also failed to rule out the set of so-called f(R) models that slightly tweak the parameters of general relativity at large scales to explain away dark energy.

"The question of whether modified gravity or general relativity will ultimately prevail is still very much open," says Dodelson.

TeVeS pretty much missed the mark; f(R) is still in contention.
Note: General Relativity's first test was in 1919 - an observation of a solar eclipse confirmed Einstein's gravitational theory against the prevailing Newtonian model.

The cool part of this?
- Scientific theories are subject to refutation, by data!
Take a look at the headline: "Einstein passes cosmic test".
It doesn't say that General Relativity has been proven, only that it passed a test.
Scientific theories can never be proven. They are always tentative, subject to the discovery of contradictory data.

On the other hand, Biblical Creationism has been disproven, falsified. It is NOT true.
The universe is several BILLION years old. Not 6000 years.
The solar system is around 4 BILLION years old. Not 6000 years.
The earth is - with the solar system - around 4 BILLION years old. Not 6000 years.
Life on earth? Maybe 3.5 BILLION years old. Not 6000 years.

Intelligent Design?
It is NOT a scientific theory.
It CANNOT be falsified! - the best it can do is proffer 'explanations' of biological systems by invoking a supernatural 'designer'.
Who knows - maybe it's true.
It could be that a supernatural Designer created our world yesterday, just as we perceive it today.
This is the premise of the block-buster hit, The Matrix.
This particular premise cannot be disproven. It is NOT science.

IF tomorrow a T. Rex fossil is discovered with a fossilized H. sapiens in its gut, this would pretty much overturn (falsify) our current understanding of Darwinian evolution!
Darwinian evolution is falsifiable.
So far it has passed all tests.
When intermediate forms have been required, they've been found.
No, this doesn't prove evolution is true.
As a scientific theory, evolution CANNOT be "proven" - it can only be falsified.
So far it's held up well to all empirical challenges.

Note: I occasionally find myself watching programs on our local (cable) religious channel. One of these programs deals with 'the creation' - and features a 'scientist' (Ph.D. and all) who promotes Biblical Creationism. In one of the recent shows, he claimed that his carbon-14 dating of diamonds had revealed an age of 50,000 years - far younger than the age accepted by mainstream science... BUT - even this age was too great for him - after all, he adheres to Biblical Creationism, which claims the earth is 6000 years old. His explanation? "The Flood changed the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12." Simply asserted, with no evidence, no justification, no rationale. Just asserted... and, handily, The Flood changed this ratio just right - so that his dating techniques yielded an age of 5000 years for diamonds!