Several years ago a lecturer started her section with a rather unusual set of facts. Point by point she highlighted scientific facts that clearly showed that carrots were the common link between many serious illnesses and even death, the most shocking of which was that 97% of people who died each year had consumed carrots during their lifetime. Her point – scientific findings are important, but how you present and interpret those facts are even more so.
Recently Spurious Correlations, a book by Tyler Vigen, further highlighted this point. In this book he highlighted that while there appears to be a shockingly good correlation between the amount of cheese consumed per capita and the number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bed sheets you can hardly draw any meaningful conclusions between the two. Yet somehow these types of ridiculous conclusions seem to be increasingly headlining social media.
We spend many years teaching undergraduate BSc’s the importance of responsible research; how to get reliable data, where to correctly search for and analyse reliable literature and how to accurately report their own findings. Even with all this training we often find students have severe misconceptions so no wonder the latest ‘health scare’ spreads like wildfire on social media.
With greater access to information than ever before, and even more platforms to share that information, anyone’s interpretation can quickly become gospel. Probably the most infamous example of this must be the ‘vaccines lead to autism’ conclusion; one falsified scientific paper in the 80’s has led to an entire movement of well-meaning mothers reviving diseases that were almost eradicated. Worse still, the more shock inducing the fact or interpretation, the more likely it is to get mainstream media attention (true or not).
In part, scientists have to take some of the blame. As good as we are at finding facts, we’re often terrible at making our research publicly accessible. Last year a study by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science showed that scientists often hold severely contrasting beliefs to the general public on major societal issues. It’s an interesting, albeit long, read that basically highlights that there is a disconnect between science and society that urgently needs addressing.
As tempting as it is, we cant blame everything on scientists. We all hit the ‘share’ button a little too easily sometimes. We almost always mean well when we share things – we think it’s funny, or interesting, or something we think people should be aware of – but how often do we fact check before we hit share? Perhaps the infographic below can be of some assistance in navigating this maze, but don’t just take my word for it – go find out for yourself. Oh and remember to watch out for those deadly carrots…
Tales from the Fishtank 