There’s a formal, popular definition which many of you might have come across: meaning cynic or doubter. It’s often used in cases where people discuss climate change. That even in the face of evidence, a skeptic will still dismiss a claim.

It’s unfortunately one of the issues that come with the term, but it’s very unlikely that it’ll ever change to something else — so the best way to deal with it is to demonstrate how scientific skepticism works and what skepticism is about. Scientific skepticism involves an approach to knowledge using science and scientific methodology, and understanding how we come to understand things about our world.

Skepticism also involves investigating paranormal, pseudoscientific beliefs and science denialism, conspiracy theory beliefs and the like. Skepticism is about investigating evidence and sorting the results, finding out what is good, bad or even has no measurable evidence, and what may be done next in regards to further analysis to see if results change.