Posts Tagged ‘scientific integrity’

In their recent book, Jennifer Kavanagh and Michael Rich tell us that we’re suffering from truth decay. Public discourse now brings more disagreement about facts and their interpretation. They say the line separating facts from personal beliefs and opinions has become blurry. And thus, we have increasing difficulty with civil discourse and policymaking. Certainly, we […]

Ad hominem logic seem to be ruling the day. International diplomacy features name calling between a little rocket man and a dotard. And now, people are starting to call for the dotard to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. So is it really surprising to see ad hominem logic creeping into scholarly discourse? Ad Hominem Logic […]

Facts matter. Right? We like to think so. But the truth is that people act on emotion – beliefs and feelings – every bit as much as they do on facts. For a case study in how beliefs and feelings can triumph over facts, let’s take a look at a nutrition education program. Teaching Children About Gardens […]

Step right up! Many people are handing out unsolicited advice about obesity and what’s best for you. This sort of advice comes from two dramatically different extremes. We hear it from ignorant, biased individuals who think that solutions are easy. But it also comes from people who say, forget it. Obesity is no big deal […]

Here’s a bit of hype that crossed many screens this week. The Society of Interventional Radiology wants you to know that an experimental procedure to freeze a nerve may “ignite weight loss.” Ignite sounds good, right? Naturally, health reporters had fun hyping this one. Our favorite: “Freezing the ‘hunger nerve’ could be key to more […]

Some call it a crisis of reproducibility. More than a decade ago, John Ioannidis famously told the world that most published research findings are false. His analysis quickly became the most widely read paper ever published by PLOS. You’ll find a more generous view in a new, special issue of PNAS. Attending to the rigor, […]

Here’s a diet that has everything. It actually provides for a pretty good quality of nutrition. It has a buzzy acronym – MIND – that suggests a compelling and very specific benefit. And it has the American Heart Association (among others) hyping it. The MIND diet has a lot going for it. Except for one thing. The […]

Are we numb to hype and little lies yet? Sad to say, they’re not confined to tabloid news or politics. Despite data that doesn’t support effectiveness claims, we see such claims for obesity treatment and prevention published in scientific journals. This week, researchers at Johns Hopkins and UC-Davis provide two distinct examples. A Virtual Health […]

More than three centuries ago, Jonathan Swift wrote that falsehoods fly while the truth limps far behind it. Today, we certainly see that in nutrition and obesity. Any number of myths stand firm despite clear evidence disproving them. More broadly, the news is full of reporting about Russia and ISIS using bots to spread misinformation […]

Nattering nabobs of negativism. William Safire wrote those words for Vice President Spiro Agnew to push back on people who doubted him. Three years later, Agnew resigned after a corruption probe and conviction for tax evasion. Doubt always has its doubters. But it has special virtues in science and health. Critical thinking is impossible without […]