Pieces of information, disputed and not, can be woven very quickly into competing explanatory narratives. Press the right buttons, then it can…
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Science Communication Motivated Reasoning: Fuel for Controversies, Conspiracy Theories, and MoreRead more
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Science Communication Dancing, sand art and science: Communication by art-y meansRead more
There’s something wonderful about those art forms that can bypass our adult selves and touch the child inside us. Sand art has…
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Evidence Emotional Donating: The Science and Un-Science of Disaster ResponseRead more
Those images send us rushing to donate in droves. That generosity can add up to hundreds of millions of dollars for a…
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Evidence “Trust me, I’m a professor!” Evidence, medical schools & studentsRead more
There are just so many young people here. I’m at the 21st birthday meeting of an organization I got to help build…
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Evidence Blemish: The Truth About BlackheadsRead more
Some old wives’ and doctors’ tales are pretty harmless. Behind the myths about blackheads and acne, though, it gets very ugly. And…
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Science Communication Opening a can of data-sharing wormsRead more
Are researchers’ dogs eating a lot of their homework? Well, yesterday afternoon at the quadrennial medical editors’ scientific meeting in Chicago, we…
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Bias Academic Spin: How to Dodge and Weave Past Research ExaggerationRead more
Yesterday’s uplifting emphasis at the quadrennial medical editors’ scientific meeting was bad research (“Bad research rising”). This morning’s motivational agenda focused…
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Bias Bad research rising: The 7th Olympiad of research on biomedical publicationRead more
What do the editors of medical journals talk about when they get together? So far today, it’s been a fascinating but rather…
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Evidence Vacation fade-out: Back to work with a thud?Read more
Work can wind us up. Vacations are supposed to wind us down. But just how much benefit do we get from…
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Science Communication Wassup, Wikipedia? Oh … wow!Read more
It’s one of the world’s most used websites – there are more than 20 billion page views a month. That’s hard to…
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Bias Nutrient X Prevents Disease? Sorting the Wheat from the BranRead more
It started, as many issues do, because we didn’t get enough roughage in our diets. Before dietary fiber gained currency in the…
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Bias The Hawthorne effect: An old scientists’ tale lingering “in the gunsmoke of academic snipers”Read more
It’s easy to see a “cause and effect” relationship where there isn’t one. Or overlook one that should be as plain as…