Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks

it takes to bring drugs to market, and charlatans insist on their fake evidence in order to make a few bucks.

Much of what is communicated to us as “science” is really just pseudoscience.

fact, the “expert” that had peddled the story was discovered to have little knowledge of microbiology, and even sold anti-MRSA products from his garden shed. In spite of this lack of credibility, the media were happy to report and promote his views

in 2005, newspapers reported that the “super bug” MRSA had been detected in various UK hospitals

onstantly.

One example of this was the tools used to fight polio. Scientists discovered that polio paralyzes our muscles, thus making it impossible to breathe. To combat this, mechanical ventilation and intensive care were created, both of which saved countless lives

between 1935 and 1975, groundbreaking science was being churned out constantly.

like the “happiest day of the year.” The media is full of fluffy stories like these which are passed off as the real deal

Interestingly, every single group identified flaws in the research methods for the evidence that challenged their pre-existing beliefs, but dutifully ignored the flaws in the research that supported their view! What’s more, this experiment didn’t just study irrational buffoons: the results suggest that we allbehave this way.

patterns in small studies are sometimes only visible when the data is aggregated

meta-analysis, in which the results from many similar studies with few patients are combined into a larger, and therefore more robust and accurate test of whether a treatment is effective