Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sharpening | One of three cognitive and media biases (leveling, pseudosymmetry, sharpening) evaluated together in psychology and science literacy. Sharpening is the cognitive tendency to exaggerate, emphasize, or intensely retain specific details of an event, story, or data point. Science Misinformation |
| Single-Blind | When either the experimenter or subject is unaware whether the subject is getting the treatment or a placebo. Blinding the researcher helps prevent bias when the results are analyzed. Blinding the subject prevents the participant from having a biased reaction. Science General |
| Sink | Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas or aerosol from the atmosphere. Climate Change Denial |
| Solar Radiation | Radiation emitted by the Sun. It is also referred to as short-wave radiation. Solar radiation has a distinctive range of wavelengths (spectrum) determined by the temperature of the Sun. Climate Change Denial |
| Speciation | The process by which populations evolve into distinct species, often after becoming geographically or reproductively isolated. Evolution |
| Spike Protein | Spike proteins are large, surface-projecting glycoproteins found on enveloped viruses, notably coronaviruses, which form trimmer structures crucial for host cell attachment and entry. Vaccines |
| Stabilizers | Sugars, amino acids, or gelatin that protect the vaccine from breaking down during storage. Vaccines |
| Statistical Significance | Observation, based on the application of a statistical test, that a relationship probably is not due to pure chance. The probability is stated (e.g., p < 0.05) and the results are said to be statistically significant. Science General |
| Storm Surge | An abnormal rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm, whose height is the difference between the observed level of the sea surface and the level that would have occurred in the absence of the cyclone. Climate Change Denial |
| Strain | A specific version of an organism. Many agents causing diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis, have multiple strains. Vaccines |