Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Reflectivity | The ability of a surface material to reflect sunlight including the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths. Climate Change Denial |
| Reforestation | Planting of forests on lands that have previously contained forests but that have been converted to some other use. Climate Change Denial |
| Regression to the Mean | The tendency of unusually high or low measurements to be followed by more typical ones. It can make an ineffective treatment appear to work. Science General |
| Reinforcement learning | Reinforcement learning is a process where a model learns to be more accurate by having its outputs assessed, either by a human or by another AI designed to rank them. Artificial Intelligence |
| Relative Risk vs. Absolute Risk | Relative risk compares risk between groups (e.g. 'doubles the risk'); absolute risk gives the actual chance (e.g. from 1 in 10,000 to 2 in 10,000). Reporting only relative risk can exaggerate harms or benefits. Science General |
| Renewable Energy | Energy from sources that are naturally replenished, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal. Climate Change Denial |
| Replicability | The repetition of a study using the same methods to verify if the original findings are reliable and reproducible. Science General |
| Replication Crisis | The discovery, especially in psychology and medicine, that many published findings could not be reproduced by independent researchers, prompting reforms in research practice. Public Trust |
| Respiration | The process whereby living organisms convert organic matter to CO2, releasing energy and consuming O2. Climate Change Denial |
| Retraction | The formal withdrawal of a published paper because of serious errors, fraud or misconduct. Retracted papers, such as Wakefield's 1998 MMR paper, can continue to circulate. Public Trust |