Do you look at new studies with skepticism?

Question

It seems like every day when I go online to get news, I come across a report about a new study that "suggests" something or states emphatically that ________ "may" cause ________.

What on earth are we expected to do with such vague non-conclusions? Alter what we're doing? Quake in our boots? Run screaming for the hills like psychotic banshees?

It's all rather ludicrous. Look at how science will say that something definitely causes cancer, then will recant that claim a few years later.

I'm certainly not anti-science. I just think it's odd that things are published that are, in fact, only hunches as opposed to conclusive determinations.

If all these highly funded scientists want to study something worthwhile, how about getting to the bottom of where those extra socks go every time we lose one in the laundry?

Answer 1

Science proceeds in tiny increments, but the news media need to report something new every day. Most scientific studies just add another little piece to the puzzle, but the media reports often make each one sound like a major breakthrough. You should read all the news with a critical eye, realizing that most of it is written by someone on a deadline, who may not fully understand what he's reporting on, but has to make it sound exciting.

In science, the results of a single paper are seldom conclusive. When each study you read about seems to contradict the last one, you can be sure the full story is yet to be figured out. You're supposed to take it all with a grain of salt-substitute and get on with your life.

Answer 2

The studies are important, but they aren't newsworthy, for the most part. They report results that really are useful for other studies, but aren't all that much on their own - you can't just draw conclusions based on one study. I don't know why they keep writing news stories about them.

Answer 3

Its hard to tell whats true or false anymore. Just last year they said that there would be a cure for aids and I have't heard about it since. My advice to you is to just research about whatever it is ur looking for on the web as much as u can. hope that helps

Answer 4

ever since they decided to change the whole food pyramind, yes.

Answer 5

I look at it this way. We're all going to die and I really don't want to know what (or whom) is going to kill me.