The idea for this post comes via the team at the most excellent Silly Beliefs blog: Stuff (repository of news & what looks like an awful lot of other stuff) reported about a Massey University research project. The Stuff report kicks off by saying Spirits are increasingly making their presence felt in New Zealand, spurred on by celebrity […]
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science embargoes & early releases – an update on the ‘new hominin’ story
I wrote a few days ago about the over-hyped media stories around the then-upcoming release of a new Science paper about a possible new hominin species. At the time is seemed really strange & definitely a spoiler rather than a teaser – by the time the actual paper came out, there’d already be a set of […]
Continue readinganother missing link…
This morning’s NZ Herald carried a story from the UK Telegraph under the headline "Child’s skeleton missing link to man’s ape-like forebears.’ It could have been worse: the Telegraph‘s headline was ‘Missing link between man & apes found’ (sigh). I read the article & have to confess a certain amount of disappointment – because this seems to be […]
Continue readingoverrun with creepy-crawlies? maybe not…
I blog a fair bit about the way science stories are (mis)represented in the press. And when I do, I always wonder what the original press release (from the intitution to the media) would have been like. Now Ben Goldacre’s posted an excellent item on one such release. The release in question came from a […]
Continue readingmisleading medical-science stories – & why most published research findings are false
It’s been pointed out to me that this post could be construed as dissing the EPP drug & its producers. This was not in any way my intention – the post was about the fairly poor reporting around a couple of medical science stories, ending with a wish that science journalists were more aware of […]
Continue readingdo flies do housework?
Some more entertaining & educational reading for you while I’m away 🙂 This time it’s from the Bug Girl’s Blog, where the eponymous Bug Girl describes as ‘egregious’ the headline Fruit Fly Sperm Makes Females Do Housework After Sex. Visit the Bug Girl’s place to find out not only what egregious means, but also why she’s so annoyed about the headline. […]
Continue readingregulating supplements
Last Friday the Science Media Centre’s media alert included the following: Dietary supplements such as multivitamin tablets and energy drinks are an increasingly common part of our lives, but should they be? Concerns have been sparked recently by the availability of ultra-high caffeine energy drinks, the proliferation of people taking (often large) doses of vitamins/minerals […]
Continue readingtwo ends of the science spectrum
Today the Science Media Centre carried an item about the just-announced Prime Minister’s science prizes (blogged about here by Peter Griffin). These awards (for a top research team, an emerging researcher, the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year, a science teacher, & a science media communicator) carry a lot of money. They’re sure to be […]
Continue readinga rather strange decision
A fellow blogger drew my attention to a recent decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It seems that Dr Shaun Holt, a medical doctor who appears regularly on TV1’s Breakfast show, has been slated by the BSA over some comments he made (several months back now) concerning chiropractic. The BSA found that the show – & by […]
Continue readingcritical thinking 101: reading news stories on science
You’ve probably gathered by now that I get quite irritated by the way that some news reports portray science. But it’s not always easy to know what to look for, in terms of the tell-tale signs that let you know that all may not be as it first appears. Fortunately the inestimable Ben Goldacre has […]
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