Explore a number of our articles below.
About Us
Can we buy clean air?
Air Pollution in Mumbai, photo taken by Kartik Chandramouli Author: Arjun Kamdar Over the last few weeks the air pollution levels in India have reached extremely hazardous levels. On several days, seventy-four of the hundred most air polluted cities were in India. This is a serious crisis that is impacting everything that breathes, and is…
Ig Nobel: The whimsy and the magic of science
Author: Maya Lopez (Co-President) When the 2025 Nobel Prizes were announced last month, Cambridge’s science enthusiasts and news junkies alike were buzzing with excitement, discussing the laureates, dissecting the research, and tallying college wins. However, I noticed less talk around a month earlier on the Ig Nobels”. Maybe because no Cambridge members were awarded this…
Legality of curses and the “impossible crime”
Author: Maya Lopez (Co-President) Now that we’re back for another academic year in full swing, summer feels distant. I was back in my home country (Japan) during the break, which was a time for me to indulge in countless horror features and reruns, even before the spooky month of October. This might seem strange, but…
Science and extreme agendas
Author: Raf Kliber (Social Media Officer) Original feature image art specially drawn by: TallCreepyGuy While I work myself to boredom at a local retail store, I listen to some podcasts in the background. Something to cheer me up. Among my favourites are the Nature Podcast and Climate Denier’s Playbook. But, on that specific Wednesday, the…
Alpha (??) Male (???)
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) When I was video calling my parents recently, I noticed that a wildlife documentary was playing in the background. The documentary was on some pack of wolves and followed the tale of a dominant leader who got injured and left the pack, so the next oldest sister stepped up…
War on Paracetomol
Author11: Isha Harris(Co-President) Paracetamol doesn’t get nearly enough credit as a wonder drug. While not as acutely lifesaving as penicillin, the quality of life improvement multiplied by the billions of people who use it means that paracetamol offers a pretty insane contribution to human wellbeing. At any hint of a headache, I pop a couple…
Plague doctors were onto something?? (albeit for a wrong reason)
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) On June 13th, 1645, George Rae was appointed as a second plague doctor in Edinburgh. This was following the first doctor John Paulitious, who died due to, well, plague. While plague was already an endemic disease in the 17th-century UK, this outbreak was one of the worse ones. The…
Sound of Science
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) Some of you watching a Sci-Fi film may hear dialogue (perhaps especially those poorly written?) and feel like “yeah, that’s Sci-Fi jargon”. These terms may be of some far-future technology that you are certain doesn’t exist, or perhaps they are just some Latin portmanteau that sounds “science-y”. But what…
Nessie – can scientific investigation ever deny cryptid?
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) Walking up to the shores of Loch Ness, I saw a body of water that quickly turned black just about 5m away from where I stood. This was not surprising given that this Loch is deep: the deepest point being 230m, housing a volume of water across the entire…
Fiscal Cakeism
Author: Andreas Kapounek (Treasurer and Sponsorships officer) There are different ways to increase government revenue (a non-complete list): Nevertheless, it often seems like politicians neglect the economic realities that trade-offs between these three streams pose. Tax more? You run the threat of depressing economic growth (as you reduce the incentives to start or expand a…
Houdini – the OG debunking influencer?
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) Dealing with pseudoscience propaganda and facing the limitations in “debunking” approaches are our usual days here in CUSAP, but I started to wonder when did this “debunking” became a thing as we know it? As many of us share the sentiment, this day and age seems like a misinformation…
CUSAP After Hours: Debate with compassion while sharping your philosophical razors
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) Following our first event in 2024 which was more of a lecture format, we then had a workshop on debating – but with a dash of compassion – to see if we can really change minds. This was organized by our two co-chairs of CUSAP, where we discussed the…
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: How “science” betrayed us & haunt back 50 years later.
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) The year is 1966. A 29-year-old American epidemiologist, Peter Buxtun filed an official protest with the Service’s Division of Venereal Diseases. He overheard a conversation with his colleague about a man whose family traveled a long distance to see a doctor, away from their hometown. The man was diagnosed…
The Scientific Method Is Western Biased?
Author1: Isha Harris(Co-President) This week we had a lecture titled Decolonising Global Health. The premise was that modern medicine is a colonial artefact, as is science as a whole. Western philosophers pioneered ideas of objectivism and empiricism, and in doing so marginalised traditional and indigenous forms of knowledge. The lecturer explained how coloniality of knowledge is…
Unpacking Immigration Misinformation in The 2024 Elections: Claims, Facts, and Psychological Influence
Author: Leila Yukou Lai (Speakers and Academics Officer) During the 2024 elections in both the UK and the US, immigration emerged as a prominent issue in political campaigns. Figures like Farage claimed that, “Mass immigration is making Britain poorer……. half of the immigrants coming to the UK are dependents who do not work” “We need…
CUSAP After Hours: Pseudoscience – the Science through the Looking Glass
Author: Maya Lopez (Blog Chief Editor) One way to describe pseudoscience is perhaps a distorted science. In some way or another, they present features that feel scientific, even to an exaggerated level. However, as the mirror separates the un-melding reality and its reflection, such distinction can be made between science and its reflection – pseudoscience. …
Campaign Catch-22: Why Election Campaigns Fail at Changing Minds
Author: Mohith M. Varma (Social Secretary) U. S. election campaigns rank among the most expensive in the world. Even with vast investment in advertisements, rallies, and canvassing, election outcomes often depend on just a few battleground states, while most American states grip firmly onto a given political direction. Why does this happen? Why is it…
Society’s Acceptable Misinformation
Author: Barty Wardell (Co-President) After a year of hiatus, we are planning on using this blog more regularly so do stay posted! I wanted to write about misinformation, and how misinformation is itself mischaracterised. Many people have heard about the corrosive effects of misinformation, mostly because the propagation of anti-vax ideology has shown how quickly…
Using Critical Thinking to Build Resilience Against Misinformation Professor – Prof. John Cook
We welcomed Professor John Cook, Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, for our first presentation of Lent term. Prof. Cook has built on decades of research into inoculation theory in the field of behavioural psychology, and in his talk, discussed how this may be applied to climate change denial. His talk, titled “Using…
A Word from Luis, Our Founder
I wonder if anyone else can relate to how I misspent my youth, endlessly arguing in YouTube comments, on Facebook posts and even with friends and family, trying, probably obnoxiously, to advocate science and rationality. Looking back, some interactions definitely make me cringe. I do not think I brought anyone who believed in the “flat…
A critical look at so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) – Prof. Edzard Ernst
We welcome Prof Edzard Ernst, formerly Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, the first such academic position in the world. He is founder of three medical journals and has been a columnist for many publications. His work has been awarded with 17 scientific awards (most recently the John Maddox Prize in 2015…
Misinformation in the Digital Age – Prof. Stephan Lewandowsky, Dr Jon Roozenbeek, Prof. Sander van der Linden
We welcome Professor Sander van der Linden, Dr Jon Roozenbeek and Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, our expert panel on misinformation in the digital age. We tackle questions including “how can we fight against misinformation?” and “how does fake news affect our society?” Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol, is an…
On The Ethics of Vaccination – Prof. Julian Savulescu
Arguably the best chance of escape from the COVID-19 pandemic is vaccination. But growing vaccine hesitancy has already jeopardised herd immunity for diseases such as the measles. A new vaccine, for a disease that poses a lower risk than measles, for much of the population, is likely to be subject to similar concerns. Indeed, polling…
Students Against Pseudoscience 