Slanted Science

The information age. With the internet and cable news, we are subjected to the product of a 24-hour news cycle. To that end, we really have to deal with a lot of crap being thrown at us to fill up those 24 hours in a day! Has our appetite for information become so insatiable that we gobble up any bit of data, however unsubstantiated it is? Medical studies that never would have seen the light of day 20 years ago are now being published in summary and presented as groundbreaking discovery. Ethanol and "Clean Coal" are going to free us from dependence upon foreign oil! Global warming will kill us all in 50 years! The crux of the issue, however, is that when you really read the studies and take into consideration the funding sources, most of the time there is an economic, political or sociological cause to be advanced based on the study findings.

If so cynically inclined, one could come to the conclusion that a lot of published science are merely implicit commercial advocation of any cause or business that would benefit from the acceptance of that scientific assertion and not necessarily for the benefit of humankind. It is of utmost importance, that we, as a general public, be more informed about how these "experts" are conducting their research to determine their true motive. Ulterior or Pure?

It takes some reading to get to the bottom of these issues. Time, effort, all things that are precious to the "busy busy Americans" who just want the truth delivered to them through mainstream media. The problem is, even with mainstream media - time, effort and most importantly of all, money. The research it would take to bring the truth, or even just the facts about any study - clinical, environmental, economic or otherwise would cost so much that mainstream media has little choice but to report the sound-bite, the synopsis, the promise of something for nothing. So when reading the newspaper, surfing internet news, or watching your favorite 24 hour news channel, and some scientific revelation piques your interest, do the due diligence. Find out how the study was conducted. Who paid for it? Who stands to gain from its findings? Who stands to lose? A critical and almost skeptical eye is required to separate the true advances from a policial slant or economic gain.


Below are some articles to help us separate fact from fiction, in some cases to further muddy the waters, and to help us learn how to read between the lines.

Regarding Medical Studies

http://www.umdnj.edu/idsweb/shared/how_to_read_articles_simon.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WhosCounting/story?id=997688&page=1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2352839.stm

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/08/15/flaws_are_found_in_validating_medical_studies/?page=1

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=16227


Regarding The Environment - Specifically on the issue of Global Warming, there is little consensus out there and even less hard science to back up any claims in either direction. Examples of the polarity of this issue and how environmental science is being taught in our schools. Pity about environmental science... It is hard to prove anything in a short period of time, harder to fund the research and hardest of all to profit at improving the environment itself.


How Environmental Science is being taught in schools

A 2004 review of Environmental Science textbooks

A 1996 Senate investigation on Environmental Science misconduct that finds no such misconduct in cases reviewed, praises the peer review process.

Senator James Inhofe's (R-Oklahoma) speech on the Senate floor of September 25th, 2006

Regarding Ethanol and "Clean Coal"

Ethanol Pros & Cons

"Clean Coal" Pros & Cons - How it works


Just remember, as Don Henley said in "The Garden of Allah" -

"Because there are no facts, there is no truth..
Just data to be manipulated..
I can get you any result you like..
What’s it worth to you?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right..
And I sleep very well at night..
No shame, no solution, no remorse, no retribution.."