Archive for June, 2007
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
Birth Order and Frank Sulloway, Again
Last week the New York Times reported that firstborn children have IQs three points higher on average than their younger siblings, according to a big new study. Interesting. Even more interesting was the association of the psychologist Frank Sulloway with the story. Sulloway wrote an editorial that Science published in tandem with the IQ study. The Times quoted Sulloway at length in its coverage and then made him available
6 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
Why You Should Be Depressed About the Future of Anti-Depression Treatments
I just received the following sharp-edged essay from my former student Suhas Sreedhar, who’s interning at IEEE Spectrum this summer but happily for me–and readers of this blog–has stayed in touch.
Introducing “pharmacogenomics,” the latest and greatest addition to the ever-growing collection of pseudoscientific portmanteaus. According to a recent article in the New York Times written by Richard A. Friedman, M.D., there will soon be
11 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Kitta MacPherson on Orphan Drugs
Kitta MacPherson’s visit is a highlight of my “Science and the Press” class. Kitta is a reporter for the New Jersey Star-Ledger. The students love her, and so do I, because she’s so passionate and idealistic about her job. I especially appreciate the tough stories she does on the ethics—or lack thereof–of the pharmaceutical industry. She’s great at mixing feature-style writing, focusing on a compelling individual, with hard-headed economic analysis. You’ll see what I mean when you check out her latest piece: “THE HIGH COST OF LIVING: As science finds specialty drugs to treat rare diseases, who pays?”
2 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Monday, June 11th, 2007
Induction, BS and the Real Deal
In response to my last post, nc asks: “How does the journalist decide which stories are nonsense, and which are worth following up?” Experience, my son, experience, which is invaluable for journalism, because it allows for inductive filtering. If the sun has risen every day of my life, I am inclined to believe it will arise today and tomorrow and thereafter. If string theorists have failed through the entire course
8 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
More on “Framing” Versus “Spinning”
Responding to my last post, Chris Mooney explains the difference between framing and spinning here. Mooney cites Edward Wilson’s book The Creation–winner of the CSW Green Book Award–as an example of successful framing. See also this fascinating post by Matt Nisbet on how the New York Times and Herald Tribune presented the same article–by environmental reporter Andy Revkin–in different frames. Mooney and Nisbet are framing the framing issue quite deftly. More fodder for my Intro to Journalism class this fall!
6 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
Mooney, Nisbet and “Framing” Science, Redux
Last April, the journalist Chris Mooney and professor of communication Matthew Nisbet argued in Science that to sway public opinion on debates over stem cells, global warming, intelligent design and other science-related issues scientists need to “frame” facts in a more sophisticated manner. As my response in this space suggested, their argument made me uneasy. Two nights ago, I heard Mooney and Nisbet reprise their reasoning in the headquarters
4 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Monday, June 4th, 2007
Higgs Rumors
I had an article in Slate today, about a rumor making the rounds of physics departments (and now physics blogs) these past few weeks. Details not in the article: the rumor says that a new particle has been found at the Tevatron, with a mass of 180 GeV, which is on the heavy side for the standard Higgs but not out of the allowed range. It
25 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by admin