Models are an integral and trustworthy part of the scientific process. Popular misconceptions about models abound, though, and probably the most pernicious is that models are inherently unreliable because whoever makes them can manipulate the inputs and relationships so that the model gives them the answer they want. Now that’s not how real scientific modeling works, of course, but the misconception is widespread.
For Earth Day 2021, and as part of our Misconception of the Month series, we decided to talk to our good friend, John Cook, Research Fellow at the Climate Change Communication Research Hub at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, about how best to tackle the misconceptions surrounding climate models, and climate change generally.
