Loud

For a start, they were more than happy to publish a story they clearly didn’t understand. But worse than that, they could have easily checked the details and didn’t even bother. It wouldn’t have required digging or dealing with shady sources. Merely a quick email to the study’s author.

It’s far from an isolated example. Ben Goldacre noted a few more just this week.

And the lesson? Never believe any science story in the popular press. I wish I could say otherwise, but the incompetence and mistakes are just too common, too everyday.