I Think You'll Find It's a Bit More Complicated Than That
Page 38
Doctor’s MMR fears: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/112286/Doctor-s-MMR-fears
‘Linked to Phone Masts’: http://www.badscience.net/category/roger-coghill/
published a long time ago: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19501728
disappeared from Express website: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/131817/Jab-as-deadly-as-the-cancer-
Health Warning: Exercise Makes You Fat
Health Warning: http://www.badscience.net/2009/08/health-warning-exercise-makes-you-fat/
forty-three trials: http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD003817/frame.html
exercise for weight loss: http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD003817/frame.html
The Caveat in Paragraph Number 19
The Caveat: http://www.badscience.net/2010/10/the-caveat-in-paragraph-number-19/
Oncological Ontology Project: http://thedailymailoncologicalontol ogyproject.wordpress.com/
Kill Or Cure: http://kill-or-cure.heroku.com/
40 per cent: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1317856/Strict-diet-days-week-cuts-risk-breast-cancer-40-cent.html
the academic paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20921964
look at the penis: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070312ruel/
early study in 1990: http://eyetrack.poynter.org/previous.html
most recent project: http://eyetrack.poynter.org/keys_01.html
Why Don’t Journalists Link to Primary Sources
Why Don’t Journalists: http://www.badscience.net/2011/03/why-dont-journalists-link-to-primary-sources/
Wind farms blamed: http://bengoldacre.posterous.com/how-far-will-the-daily-telegraph-distort-a-st
open-access academic paper: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017009
end of the press release: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2011/Title,65795,en.html
now deleted: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8382476/Wind-farms-blamed-for-stranding-of-whales.html
miserly correction: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/wind power/8388273/Correction-whales-and-wind-farms.html
secret to shapely legs: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8296453/Why-stilettos-are-the-secret-to-shapely-legs.html
shapelier legs than flats: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1352831/Victoria-Beckham-Stilettos-women-shapelier-legs-flats.html
Stilettos tone up: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/226658/Stilettos-tone-up-your-legs/Stilettos-tone-up-your-legs
read even the press release: http://www.hmc.edu/newsandevents/ahn-examines-the-human-leg.html
Daily Mail: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2011/03/17/no-need-to-worry-about-having-a-shower-or-drinking-water/
read the original paper: http://www.ehjournal.net/content/pdf/1476-069X-10-18.pdf
or even the press release: http://www.creal.cat/en_noticies/view.php?ID=85
simple distortion: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2011/03/17/no-need-to-worry-about-having-a-shower-or-drinking-water/
A Fishy Friend, and His Friends
A Fishy Friend: http://www.badscience.net/2010/06/the-return-of-a-2bn-fishy-friend/
Fish oil helps: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/30/fish-oil-supplement-concentration
omega-3 fish oil pill: http://www.badscience.net/category/fish-oil/
Denis Campbell: http://www.badscience.net/2007/07/british-medical-journal-mmr-the-scare-stories-are-back/
was indeed the paper: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/4/1060
published in full this year: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2010.01.014
estimates global sales: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Consumer-Trends/Markets-Leaders-in-global-brain-food-sales
reproduced below in full: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/jeremy-laurance-dr-goldacre-doesnt-make-everything-better-1994017.html
MMR: The Scare Stories Are Back
MMR: http://www.badscience.net/2007/07/british-medical-journal-mmr-the-scare-stories-are-back/
Prevention Is Better Than Cure When It Comes to Health Scares
suspected death: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22385218
vaccine caused autism: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/mmr-vaccine.aspx
dozens of vaccine scares: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0f90ac7a-a67c-11e2-885b-00144feabdc0.html
Antivaccination campaigners: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a2f9f1a6-50e3-11e0-8931-00144feab49a.html
part of a plot: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a9e6704-b0d2-11e2-9f24-00144feabdc0.html
Dodgy Academic PR
Dodgy Academic PR: http://www.badscience.net/2009/05/dodgy-academic-pr/
Annals of Internal Medicine: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/150/9/613
Suicide
Suicide: http://www.badscience.net/2009/03/suicide/
it has been shown: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11630757
repeatedly: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0049-089X%2891%2990016-V
increased by 17 per cent: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7189/972?view=long &pmid=10195966
a significant decrease: http://www.springerlink.com/content/98rw3lycjnkgg9a3/
Roger Coghill and the Aids Test
Roger Coghill: http://www.badscience.net/2008/06/roger-coghill-fails-the-aids-test/
linked to phone masts: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/49330/Suicides-linked-to-phone-masts-
evidence of a possible link: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthy living/cancercontroversies/howdoweknow/
Broad Street pump: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow_(physician)
a ‘stakeholder’ group: http://www.rkpartnership.co.uk/sage/
specialises in mediation: http://www.rkpartnership.co.uk/whatwedo.php
their last document: http://www.rkpartnership.co.uk/sage/Public/SAGE first interim assessment.pdf
angel investment: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2008/02/02/business-angel-supplements-for-launch-91466-20426842/
‘Asphalia’: http://www.asphalia.co.uk/
visited his website: http://www.galonja.co.uk/
protection equipment: http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=88&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
Acousticom: http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=104&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
makes wine taste nicer:http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=98&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
‘Mood Maker’: http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=97&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
Electrohealing: http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=46&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
Atlantis: http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/product.asp?g_s_n=crlshop&g_u_no=0&g_u_nam=&g_tim=&pid=59&v_det=1&full=1&c_id=0
The Aids test: http://www.badscience.net/2007/12/aids-quackery-international-tour/, http://www.badscience.net/2007/09/homeopathy gives-you-aids/and http://www.badscience.net/2007/02/money-is-not-the-only-barrier-to-aids-patients-getting-hold-of-drugs/
Coghill on Aids: http://web.archive.org/web/20041013110533/http://www.cogreslab.co.uk/aids.htm
BRAINIAC
Ka-Boom! Science! COOL!!?!
Ka-Boom!: 831 http://www.badscience.net/2006/07/ka-boom/
Who’s the Daddy?
Who’s the Daddy?: http://www.badscience.net/2006/07/whos-the-daddy/
STUFF
Here’s My … Foreword to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway Guidebook
Here’s my: http://www.badscience.net/2013/12/heres-my-intro-to-the-romney-hythe-and-dimchurch-railway-guidebook/
narrow gauge railway: http://www.rhdr.org.uk/
sound mirrors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_mirror
How I Sta
lked My Girlfriend
How I Stalked: http://www.badscience.net/2006/02/how-i-stalked-my-girlfriend/
EARLY SNARKS
Staying Beautiful Is Easy to Do
Staying Beautiful: http://www.badscience.net/2003/05/staying-beautiful-is-easy-to-do/
Because You’re Worth It
Because You’re: http://www.badscience.net/2003/11/because-youre-worth-it/
More Than Water?
More than Water?: http://www.badscience.net/2004/01/more-than-water/
‘Nanniebots’ to Catch Paedophiles
‘Nanniebots’: http://www.badscience.net/2004/03/nanniebots-to-catch-paedophiles/
New Scientist’s chat with Nanniebot: http://www.tinyurl.com/2y55h
talk to it online: http://www.tinyurl.com/2osgo
Nanniebots and Neverland
Nanniebots and Neverland: http://www.badscience.net/2004/04/nanniebots-and-neverland/
making false claims: tinyurl.com/3gfxv
modified the device to stream shows: tinyurl.com/38wmx
posting did state: tinyurl.com/2jg3p
chatnannies.com: http://chatnannies.com/
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence: http://www.badscience.net/2004/06/artificial-intransigence/
BOOKENDS
Be Very Afraid: The Bad Science Manifesto
Be Very Afraid: http://www.badscience.net/2003/04/be-very-afraid-the-bad-science-manifesto/
What Eight Years of Writing the Bad Science Column Has Taught Me
finish a book: http://www.badscience.net/books/the-drug-pushers/
what I’ve learned: http://www.badscience.net/2010/12/the-year-in-nonsense-2/and http://www.badscience.net/2009/12/the-year-in-nonsense/
in eight years: http://www.badscience.net/2008/12/the-year-in-bad-science-2/
writing this column: http://www.badscience.net/2007/12/the-year-in-bad-science-2007/and http://www.badscience.net/2006/12/the-year-in-bad-science/
Alternative therapists: http://www.badscience.net/category/complementary-medicine/
great teaching tool: http://www.badscience.net/2007/11/a-kind-of-magic/
medicines regulators: http://www.badscience.net/2011/02/pretending-that-evidence-is-difficult-and-complicated/
universities: http://www.badscience.net/2010/02/how-do-you-regulate-wu/
science and evidence in culture: http://www.badscience.net/2008/09/the-medicalisation-of-everyday-life/
their libel cases: http://www.badscience.net/category/libel/
comedy factory: http://www.badscience.net/2008/08/bill-nelson-wins-the-internet/and http://www.badscience.net/2007/05/the-amazing-qlink-science-pedant/
how the world works: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/08/bad-science-effective-things-silly-places
the placebo effect: http://www.badscience.net/category/placebo/
misled by heuristics: http://www.badscience.net/category/irrationality-research/
thrills, and power: http://www.badscience.net/2011/03/why-cigarette-packs-matter/
Pharmaceutical companies: http://www.badscience.net/category/big-pharma/
still won’t publish all: http://www.badscience.net/category/publication-bias/
we tolerate it: http://www.badscience.net/2011/03/when-regulation-is-opaque-trust-is-all-you-have/
Journalists: http://www.badscience.net/category/media/
can mislead the public: http://www.badscience.net/2010/10/the-caveat-in-paragraph-number-19/
the methods and techniques: http://www.badscience.net/2011/10/new-edition-of-testing-treatments-best-lay-text-on-evidence-based-medicine/
Politicians misuse evidence: http://www.badscience.net/category/politics/
and distort it: http://www.badscience.net/2011/04/id-expect-this-from-ukip-or-the-daily-mail-not-from-a-government-leaflet/
to shameful degrees: http://www.badscience.net/2011/02/andrew-lansley-and-his-imaginary-evidence/and http://www.badscience.net/2011/02/why-is-evidence-so-hard-for-politicians/
trials of policies: http://www.badscience.net/2011/05/we-should-so-blatantly-do-more-randomised-trials-on-policy/
if they achieve: http://www.badscience.net/2010/05/politicians-can-divine-which-policy-works-best-by-using-their-special-magic-politician-beam/
no honourable excuse: http://www.badscience.net/2009/09/blueprint-fail/
the fairest tests: http://www.badscience.net/category/evidence-based-policy/
Real scientists: http://www.badscience.net/2011/11/why-wont-professor-greenfield-publish-this-theory-in-a-scientific-journal/
clear line between the results: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/29/duchennes-muscular-dystrophy-surrogate-outcomes
nerds are more powerful: http://www.badscience.net/2011/06/kids-who-spot-bullshit-and-the-adults-who-get-upset-about-it/
best teaching gimmick: http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html
for explaining: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/28/bad-science-diy-data-analysis?INTCMP=SRCH
how good: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/16/bad-science-dodgy-stats
science works: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/09/bad-science-research-error
List of Illustrations
1. © Gina Kelly/Alamy
2. in Greenberg, S., ‘How citation distortions create unfounded authority: analysis of a citation network’, BMJ 2009;339:b2680
3. © Hulton Archive
4. adapted from Hurlbert, Anya C. et al., ‘Biological components of sex differences in color preference’, Current Biology, Volume 17, Issue 16, R623–R625
5. by kind permission of Matt Parker
6. © Rick Strange/Alamy
7. © Ady Kerry/Alamy
8. Paul Barden, http://pb204.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/im-grateful-to-david-spiegelhalter-of.html
9. The Life Picture Collection via Getty Images
10. © CBW/Alamy
11. © Everett Collection Historical/Alamy
12. © Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy
13. © Bettmann/Corbis
14. © Bettmann/Corbis
15. © The Cartoon Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images
16. © Cardiff University Library, Cochrane Archive, University Hospital Llandough
17. image courtesy of The Advertising Archive
18. by kind permission of Alice and Matthew O’Connor
19. © Katie Garrod/JAI/Corbis
Index
“The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.”
A&E departments: randomised trials in 208; waiting times 73–5
abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) 18, 114
abortion; GPs and xviii, 89–91; Science and Technology Committee report on ‘scientific developments relating to the Abortion Act, 1967’ 196–201
academia, bad xviii–xix, 127–46; animal experiments, failures in research 136–8; brain-imaging studies report more positive findings than their numbers can support 131–4; journals, failures of academic 138–46; Medical Hypotheses: Aids denialism in 138–41; Medical Hypotheses: ‘Down Subjects and Oriental Population Share Several Specific Attitudes and Characteristics’ article 139, 141–3; Medical Hypotheses: masturbation as a treatment for nasal congestion articles 139, 143–6; misuse of statistics 129–31; retractions, academic literature and 134–6
academic journals: access to papers published in 32–4, 143; cherry-picking and 5–8; ‘citation classics’ and 9–10, 102–3, 173; commercial ghost writers and 25–6; data published in newspapers rather than 17–20; doctors and technical academic journals 214; ‘impact factor’ 143; number of 14, 17; peer review and 138–46 see also peer review; poor quality (‘crap’) 138–46; refusal to publish in 3–5; retractions and 134–6; statistical model errors in 129–31; studies of errors in papers published in 9–10, 129–31; summaries of important new rese
arch from 214–15; teaching and 214–15; youngest people to publish papers in 11–12
academic papers xvi; access to 32–4; cherry-picking from xvii, 5–8, 12, 174, 176–7, 192, 193, 252, 336, 349, 355; ‘citation classics’ 9–10, 102–3, 173; commercial ‘ghost writers’ and 25–6; investigative journalism work and 18; journalists linking work to 342, 344, 346; number of 14; peer review and see peer review; post-publication 4–5; press releases and xxi, 6, 29–31, 65, 66, 107–9, 119, 120, 121–2, 338–9, 340–2, 358–60; public relations and 358–60; publication bias 132–3, 136, 314, 315; references to other academic papers within allowing study of how ideas spread 26; refusal to publish in 3–5, 29–31; retractions and 134–6; studies of errors in 9–10, 129–31; titles of 297
Acousticom 366
acupuncture 39, 388
ADE 651 273–5
ADHD 40–2
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 252
Afghanistan 231; crop captures in xx, 221–4
Ahn, Professor Anna 341
Aids; antiretroviral drugs and 140, 185, 281, 284, 285; Big Pharma and 186; birth control, abortion and US Christian aid groups 185; Catholic Church fight against condom use and 183–4; cures for 12, 182–3, 185–6, 366; denialism 138–41, 182–3, 185–6, 263, 273, 281–6; drug users and 182, 183, 233–4; House of Numbers film 281–3; Medical Hypotheses, Aids denial in 138–41; needle-exchange programmes and 182, 183; number of deaths from 20, 186, 309; power of ideas and 182–7; Roger Coghill and ‘the Aids test’ 366; Spectator, Aids denialism at the xxi, 283–6; US Presidential Emergency Plan for Aids Relief 185
Aidstruth.org 139
al-Jabiri, Major General Jehad 274–5
alcohol: intravenous use of 233; lung cancer and 108–9; rape and consumption of 329, 330
ALLHAT trial 119
Alzheimer’s, smoking and 20–1
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 325
American Association on Mental Retardation 325
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 344
American Medical Association 262
American Psychological Association 325
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 325
anecdotes, illustrating data with 8, 118–22, 189, 248–9, 293
animal experiments 136–8
Annals of Internal Medicine 358
Annals of Thoracic Surgery 134