Death by Bacon: Did the News get to the Meat of the Matter?

The conclusions were guaranteed to make headlines around the world: processed meats, such as bacon, were carcinogenic—and red meat was a “probable” carcinogen. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer had surveyed over 800 studies on...

Is the Risk of War Declining?

I teach more than one hundred students every year but will bet my house that a student taller than 7’6’’ will never walk into my classroom. This is because human heights conform well to a “normal” distribution, or “bell curve,” rendering large deviations from average...

Popular Allergy, Sleep Medicines and Dementia: A Risk?

Responding to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine linking certain drugs to dementia, The Daily Mail ran with the headline: “Popular sleep remedies and hayfever pills ‘increase risk of Alzheimer’s by more than 50%.’” It’s not clear whom the Daily...

The CDC Conspiracy

  Should the media cover anti-vaccination claims? Conventional reporting would probably do more harm than good if it did so by just reporting both sides and creating the impression of equivalency between weight of evidence and false claims. But what if the latest...

The CDC Conspiracy

  Should the media cover anti-vaccination claims? Conventional reporting would probably do more harm than good if it did so by just reporting both sides and creating the impression of equivalency between weight of evidence and false claims. But what if the latest...

African American Boys and Autism

  A shocking reanalysis of CDC data claimed that African American boys had a greater risk of autism associated with the time they were vaccinated, and that the agency had covered up this finding. The study ignited a wave of conspiracy charges across the web; but...