While this article is targeted at the pharmaceutical, nutriceutical and dietary supplement industries, it could just as well be applied to the junk science techniques of environmentalists, chemophobes and food nannies. Continue reading
Category Archives: Methodology
Ropeik: The Messy (and Risky) Ways That Governments Try to Manage Risks
“Now, what does this look like in the real world? BPA is a great example.” Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
NYTimes: Tests in Mice Misled Researchers on 3 Diseases, Study Says
As pointed out in Junk Science Judo, mice aren’t little people. Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
New Yorker: What Nate Silver Gets Wrong
“Can Nate Silver do no wrong? Between elections and baseball statistics, Silver has become America’s secular god of predictions. And now he has a best-seller, ‘The Signal and the Noise,’ in which he discusses the challenges and science of prediction in a wide range of domains, covering politics, sports, earthquakes, epidemics, economics, and climate change.” Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
Study casts doubt on link between cannabis, teen IQ drop
Defense of dope smoking brings out epidemiological skeptics. And why wouldn’t these criticisms also be true for the lead-IQ claims? Continue reading
Posted in Lead, Methodology
Study: 95% of epidemiology studies are wrong
I’m surprised the figure is that low. Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
More epidemiology shenanigans
By Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, CCP
The media has been quick to report, verbatim from the press release, of a new study finding that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) could be contributing to a global epidemic of type two diabetes. Continue reading
Posted in Beverages, Diabetes, Food labeling, Methodology, Scientific method, Sugar, Sweeteners
Gargle with sugar water to improve your focus and self control?
A new study on sugar can best be said to illustrate the decline in our educational system, which is failing to teach the scientific process and increasingly leaving students and professors unable to design, conduct, evaluate and report a clinical study that is a fair test of an hypothesis. That may sound like an exaggeration until you read the study. Continue reading
Posted in Methodology, Scientific method
Looking for clues
With clinical trials and meta-analyses failing to support significant health benefits from fish oil and omega-3 supplements in reducing all-cause mortality and preventing various chronic diseases of aging, fish is back in the news. The news reported on a meta-analysis of data from 38 published observational and intervention studies from 15 countries, involving nearly 800,000 people. The study was a head spinning stream of contradictions and junkscience favorites that may be fun to read. Continue reading
Posted in Methodology, Scientific method
Wellcome Trust to Crack Down on Paper-Sharing Slackers
The United Kingdom’s Wellcome Trust is putting more teeth into a requirement that grantees make their published papers freely available to the public. In an announcement today, the Wellcome said it will begin taking specific steps to sanction researchers who fail to comply with the sharing policy. Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
Tagged research access, research funding, research integrity
Roger Pielke Jr.: Sarewitz on Bias in Science
In the current issue of Nature, Dan Sarewitz has a column about the threat posed by bias to scientific research. Continue reading
Shining a light on trial data
The European Medicines Agency’s request to make all clinical trial data available is key to countering bias in publication, drug prescription practice and health policy. Continue reading
Posted in Biotechnology, Development, Medicine, Methodology, Risk assessment
Tagged clinical research, medical research
WUWT: Trenberth takes on UAH satellite data in a new paper
They create an adjustment for the way the Alabama scientists handled data from NOAA-9, a satellite that collected temperature data in the mid-1980s. Continue reading
Call for standards in egg bio-monitoring
Scramble of results could undermine common method of pollution monitoring Continue reading
William Briggs: Love Of Theory Is The Root Of All Evil
Love of truth, on the other hand, is the root of all that is good. Continue reading
The Highest Authority in Science is the Data
How do you find the truth about some disputed point in science? Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Methodology, Scientific method
A Sharp Rise in Retractions Prompts Calls for Reform
To survive professionally, scientists feel the need to publish as many papers as possible, and to get them into high-profile journals. And sometimes they cut corners or even commit misconduct to get there. Continue reading
Conservatives’ trust in science has declined sharply
Amazing – especially that it should coincide with the displacement of sound science by environmental dogma and chemophobic nannies who constantly confuse correlation with causation Continue reading
True Fact: The Lack of Pirates Is Causing Global Warming
“It’s true. This extremely scientific graph proves it:” Continue reading
Posted in Methodology
10 Forensic Myths Spread by TV
If you’ve watched enough reruns of shows like CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, and Bones, you probably think you’re pretty well-versed in the science of forensics and crime-solving. Think again. Continue reading
Posted in Criminal law, Methodology
