We explore how to interpret science headlines and see through the hype. We dive into understanding the strengths & weaknesses of science reporting and how to dig into the science behind the headlines.
Show Notes
- 1:35— March shares the inspiration behind why we wanted to create this episode and we discuss the challenges in trying to make sense of all the “scientific” data coming at us.
- 9:29—March points out the potential for conflicts of interest in the way research is presented by people who have a particular position they want to promote.
- 11:20— Ian talks about the general trend of our having more and more data available to us and the importance of being data literate.
- 12:59— March shares his personal experience becoming interested in science.
- 13:59— Darren describes how participating in debates at school and at home helped him develop critical thinking skills and fostered his interest in being able to discern credible vs deceptive sources.
- 16:55— March shares a tip for how to quickly assess the validity of a headline and
- 18:23— Ian chimes in with a tactic he uses when first reading a headline: he asks himself what might the motivation be of this author.
- 22:27— March explains the difference between causation and correlation and we discuss the importance of discerning the difference between the two.
- 35:25— Darren invokes the famous quote from British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (later made famous by Mark Twain): “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
- 38:29— Darren shares a list of his personal tricks to determine the credibility of a source.
- 42:20— March explains some of the tricks that writers use to make statistical results sound more significant than they really are.
- 44:54— We discuss p-values: what they are, why they matter, and how to make them easier to understand.
- 49:24— Ian shares one of his favorite blogs on nutrition called Summer Tomato and explains how it got him interested in p-values and how to think about them through a different lens.
- 1:02:50— March shares two resources for staying abreast of science news and also understanding it more thoroughly.
- 1:09:45— Ian tests our ability to analyze the news by presenting us with a recent article about chocolate’s effect on cancer and we have fun trying to break down the different bits of the story and its sources.
- 1:22:40— Ian notes that the article originated from HealthDayNews.com which turns out to be a very legitimate source.
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