About
About the site
I chose the name Just A Theory because it demonstrates a common misunderstanding of science by the general public. When people attempt to dismiss areas such as evolution or climate change they often announce “that’s just a theory!” – the implication being theories are dreamed up by mad scientists in laboratories somewhere, and are based on opinion, not fact.
This perception can be very damaging to science, and it is often the media that is at fault. Scientific reports are dumbed down to the point where facts, data, and the scientific method are completely obscured – its no wonder readers can be left with the impression scientists pluck their ideas out of thin air.
The aim of Just A Theory is to try and avoid these pitfalls myself, as well as highlighting the worst offenders in the mainstream media. Most importantly of all, I wish to treat readers as intelligent people who may not know much about science, but hopefully wish to know more.
Just A Theory was launched in the summer of 2008. In the spring of 2009, additional writers drawn from the Imperial College Science Communication course joined the site.
About the authors
Jacob Aron is a freelance science and technology writer, and creator of Just A Theory. He studied Mathematics at the University of Bristol, before undertaking an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial College London. He enjoys writing, film and television, video games, and talking in the third person.
Colin Stuart is a freelance science communicator, writer and broadcaster based in London. He is also a freelance astronomer working for the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. As well as writing Colin has talked about science on TV, radio and podcasts, with clients including Nature, The Naked Scientists and physicsworld.com. Find out more at http://colinstuart.net.
Former contributors: Seth Bell, Jessica Bland, Thom Hoffman, Emma Stoke and Sam Wong.
