Make Sense of Science Headlines

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. Mentions Blog: Summer Tomato Blog: ScienceDaily.com News source: Longform.org News source: Curiosity.com YouTube channel: SciShow by PBS Scientific research source: PubMed Health news source: HealthDayNews.com Follow Us Instagram Facebook Twitter Subscribe iTunes RSS Weekly email newsletter Full Episode Transcript Better Show Blog Feedback Email: [email protected] Enjoy the show? Leave a review in iTunes! Tell two friends about the show!