Neutrinos continue to be faster than light. Perhaps. A flood of stem-cell blogging: At the American Heart Association meeting, one small trial yields positive results, another doesn't, and the media fumble coverage. Stem-cell pioneer Geron shuts down its tiny clinical trial and flees the field. Some bloggers mourn, while others jump for joy.
Member articles
Asteroid 2005YU55 didn't hit Earth after all, but another one might. Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars moon probe might too. How stupid is Daylight Saving Time? Very. Updates on fraud in social science research and the reopening of the National Practitioner Data Bank.
More untrustworthy social science research, only this time outright fraud. That database of naughty docs has been restored to public view, thanks to journalism organizations. The government appears to have taken it down after pressure by one of them, a neurosurgeon with 16 malpractice complaints.
This year's rash of severe weather has climate scientists scrambling to understand the link between increasing emissions and natural disasters. My article for the Daily Climate focuses on the push to attribute and predict extreme events, which should better inform policymakers.
Can social science research be trusted? The Open Notebook has a birthday. Here comes the HPV vaccine again. ScienceOnline2012 registration begins next week!
ScienceWriters2011: reports, photos, tweets. The malaria vaccine interim report. Should science journos let sources fact-check their stuff? The Scientist rises from the dead, hurrah!
Gary Schwitzer guest blogged as part of our Health Literacy Month Series. He talks about the challenges of accurately reporting on health and medicine, and actually misleading readers instead of informing them. He considers absolute vs. relative risk info, association vs. causation, and screening tests. A must read for anyone in science writing.
The Scientist is dead. The Bolshoi Simulation: It's Life, the Universe, and Everything. Except Life.
It's impossible to anticipate who will have health literacy problems. You can’t predict based on a patient’s age, gender, profession or income. So what can be done? Listen to my conversation with AHRQ’s Cindy Brach to hear how AHRQ is offering tools to help clinicians communicate better: http://engagingthepatient.com/2011/10/03/ahrqs-cindy-brach-the-20-actions-you-can-take-to-prevent-health-literacy-related-complications/