Statisticians have a rule of thumb for calibrating claims made in humanities and science papers alike. Andrew Gelman, for example, talks about statistical significance filter - "If an estimate is statistically significant, it’s probably an overestimate." A good thing to remember when you read weak observational studies, psychology surveys and, in modern times, a shocking number of epidemiology...
read moreWhen I have done workshops for aspiring science journalists/writers, I have three pieces of advice. The first is: Don't defend science. It doesn't need defending.But it's easier said then done. If you spend some time in science media culture, you will invariably find a person saying something pithy like "Science: It works, bitches" but then raging about some attack on science and defending it...
read moreA cookbook editor in the New York Times says I am wrong on the gluten-free fad and that, if it makes people feel better to buy gluten-free, to leave them alone. Well, well, well, look at the New York Times embracing libertarianism and food choice when it comes to fads their demographic happens to embrace. Like with sugar and GMOs, they want science and reason to stay out of it, because those...
read moreAnaphylaxis is a severe, sometimes life-threatening allergic reaction. After being exposed to a substance, sometimes even for the first time, the body releases histamine, allergen fighting antibody immunoglobulin E and other substances, which can cause airways to tighten and other symptoms. Anaphylaxis has occurred, and been known about, basically forever. Charles Richet coined the modern...
read moreIf you read mainstream media in 2013, you will learn that wheat and sugar are trying to kill you.It's better not to take them too seriously. While science tends to be rather rigorous in its claims - peer review is an inherently prudent idea that conservative Russell Kirk was likely proud of - health advice is instead based on flitting from one fad to the next, and leading the charge today are the...
read moreIf you live in America and hadn't heard, the government is in a shutdown. We've had a full plate of political theater, with armed stand-offs at veteran's memorials and the National Zoo's Panda Cam going dark, presumably to convince us that government is funded on a daily basis - except for all those exempt and 'essential' employees, which number in the millions.If you are asking, no, science is...
read more