I was expecting some grossly and hideously flawed newsitem, but in fact it was not. The only thing considered wrong here is the word ‘warp’ in the title, which is hardly worth losing any sleep over. I wouldn’t go so far as to consider this lying. Popularizing, perhaps poorly choosen – yes. But that’s to be expected from a populair scientific website serving a large unscientific target group. Besides, it’s what titles do: they trigger your attention in order to make you read more. Which you obviously did.

So, maybe the scientific research was flawed, but we can’t really shoot the messenger for that, can we?

This one was simply not only off-base, it had little to do with the scientific findings of the researchers. The researchers did not study people who visited their family, and the researchers did not find that what they did study “warped” anyone’s brain.

If you’re an advocate for headlines that lie, it might as well have read “Santa Claus Prefers Eating Children, Not Cookies.” That headline would have been just as accurate.

I think many researchers have long been pushing the boundaries between what their study and data actually show, and what they purport it shows. I find many researchers over-reach in their conclusions and in the discussion section, and ultimately I hold journal editors and reviewers for allowing such conclusions to be published without toning them down first to match the actual data.

High quality research used to be guaranteed by the name of the journal you were reading. No more. I now can find poor quality research in even the most respected journals. It’s a race to the mean, since high quality research takes a long time to conduct, analyze, write-up and get published. Much easier to publish something just “good enough,” and then connect the dots to suggest it shows more than it does.

LeShan speaks of science and the “dilemma” of science. Great book!

Thank you for continuing to post these interesting and thought provoking articles.

Do you think some scientists are trying to get publicity by putting out bad science? Or, are they victims of media sesationalism?

How do we get back to better science?

By the way, I just heard a talker on the radio say that teens who skip breakfast lose their virginity at a younger age. My first thought was the effect that news would have on the sale of breakfast foods across these here United States! What?

Keep up the great work!
and
Happy New Year!