Critical Thinking About Your Health

Great article in the NYT this morning about using critical thinking when reading about medical studies called Searching for Clarity: A Primer On Medical Studies.  It reveals why you keep reading things in the paper or crappy health magazines like Prevention that change from month to month, year to year.  Eggs are bad for you, eggs are good.  Beta Carotene is good, no sorry, it's bad. Gluscosamine and Chondroitin are good for joints.  No sorry, they don't do anything for you.

The reason is that there has to be a whole lot of evidence pointing in one direction, and then you still need a double-blinded clinical trial to really know what works.  Sometimes those trials confirm the evidence.  Sometimes, as with the beta carotene, they don't.

The three big things to consider: It's important to compare the same things.  The bigger the group studied, the better the results. The third is something called Bayes' theorem.  From the article:

But if one clinical trial tests something that is plausible, with a lot of supporting evidence to back it up, and another tests something implausible, the trial testing a plausible hypothesis is more credible even if the two studies are similar in size, design and results.

That one even messes up the scientists, so it's worth checking out.

CFI

(via PZ)

Lot's of linky posts lately because of grad school you know!

LHC

This is sad, but something to think about.  It's a link to a post by Phil Plait.  He talks about the need for critical thinking skills and links to an article about a girl from India who has committed suicide because she feared the world would end when they turned on the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, one of the cooler things we, as humans, have done.  The thing was turned on two days ago and we're still here.  Here's Phil:

"I’m a parent. I sometimes think the most important thing I can do for my daughter is love her, keep her healthy, protect her. But in all of those, there is an overarching responsibility for me to teach her how to live in the real world. And that means showing her how to think. Not what to think, but how.

Question authority. Be skeptical of claims. Ask for evidence. Apply good logic. Avoid bad logic. Analyze the results. Look for bias.

And doubt. Doubt doubt doubt. It’s one of the greatest strengths of the human mind, and perhaps the least used of all."

To learn more about the amazing work of the LHC, Brian Greene has the goods here.  There's also this cool, funny, and accessible 15 minute video from "rock star physicist" Brian Cox talking about it, "the biggest scientific experiment ever attempted."

It's nothing to fear.  It's something to be proud of.

The Intenational Year of Astronomy

At the Skeptrack at Dragon*Con after hearing Phil Plait's talk and wandering through the vast event, I came across a table dedicated to The International Year of Astronomy.  Check out their site.  They want to impress upon us the advantages we have gained by studying astronomy and one of their big goals is to get everyone to just look at something out there through a telescope in 2009.  A fun and worthy idea!

Of course hanging around the table had nothing to do with it being manned by Phil Plait himself!  Noooo.

Of course it did!  I asked him about his recent promotion to President of the JREF.  I'd heard he and James Randi interviewed about it and one of his ideas is to get more involved with curriculum development in the schools to teach science, skepticism and critical thinking.  He's a great guy, so friendly and open and affable.  It was an honor to meet him, let alone his taking the time to lay out some of his plans.  Be on the lookout on the JREF site in the next year or two. He'll be wanting input from educators!

Study Finds No Autism Link

You don't say.

No, really?

Well, what do you know.

All I have to say is: duh.

The Planets

The Planets by Dava Sobel is a hybrid of a book. Not straight out science, not exactly fiction, but definitely new and, as always, interesting. I'll read anything by the author of Longitude, one of the best nonfiction books ever. In that book she combines history, science and great writing to give us a concise and breathless tale of something that could have been mind-numbingly boring, the search for a way to accurately determine longitude.

Her follow up was another well-written science/historical, but somewhat rehashed, telling of the life of Galileo, this time told through letters from his daughter.

When I first heard of The Planets I didn't care that it seemed to be another well-worn topic. It's a cliche to say she could publish her shopping lists, but I'm sure they're better written than mine. Her angle? She takes us on a tour through, yes, the history and scientific discoveries related to the planets but uses each as a jumping off point for meditations in other realms from geology to geography to astrology and beyond. It's, of course, brilliantly written and each chapter has a fresh slant. Some of the conceits could be found a little precious, Mars from the point of view of one of it's rocks pushed the line for me, and no, that letter from the discoverer of Uranus' wife is fiction, though factually correct. But these are minor quibbles when you are dealing with a writer that can breathe life into such a cold and distant solar system.

The Dragon*Con SkepTrack

It was cool. Friday evening I saw Michael Shermer's talk and got him to sign my copy of Why People Believe Weird Things. Outside his talk, I got my picture snapped with three of the Skeptical Rogues. I wanted to chat them up, but I'd been at school late and driven straight to the talk. It was like 8pm and I was loopy with hunger, so I thanked them for the pic, and took off looking for food.

Saturday I went to see DJ Grothe do a live Point of Inquiry podcast, but stuff had gotten shifted around and it was now a science and skepticism podcasting panel discussion with Dr. Novella (the silver-haired one wearing the black tshirt in the photo above), DJ, Derek from Skepticality (and a big round of applause to him--he ran this whole thing), Dr. Pamela Gay from Astronomy Cast, Richard Saunders from the TANK and Dr. Ginger Campbell from the Brain Science podcast. These are all wonderful, thoughtful people and shows. It you're the type to listen to NPR or something like that on your commute, you should really check out these folks. It was great and I got to sit next to Evan and Bob (the other two guys in the photo not wearing the red shirt--that would be me), so got to chat them up a bit after all.

Next was Dr.Phil Plait's presentation that goes along with his new book, Death from the Skies! He's so enthusiastic and fun. One of the reviewers said:

"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, yet oddly exhilarating."
- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Goes for the talk as well!

Last I took in Dr. Novella's highly informative talk on Science-Based Medicine. I learned a lot and will definitely be checking out that blog.

But then my head was full, so I wandered around weirdo-watching and shopping in the exhibition hall. I went by the Skeptic's Table at the Mariott, but never did run into the Podblack Cat. She said she'd be there, but had probably gotten tired of sitting like I had. Good thing she skipped out on Phil's talk. Jokes about Aussie's and all. Maybe next time.

Dragon*Con This Weekend

I'll be there, mostly hanging around the Science and Skeptic Tracks. Phil Plait will be there as well as some Skepchicks and Dr. Michael Shermer. Even some of the SGU guys. If nothing else, go downtown Saturday morning at 10am and check out the always enjoyable Dragon*Con Parade. It's something to see.

(image via Dragon*Con gallery admin.)

Links for Your Lunchbreak

Teaching full time AND doing graduate work. Whew. I won't quit blogging, but I may end up doing more posts like this with more links in them.

First up, Just think: it's important (from the Sydney Morning Herald via Norm):

"The result is kids who are critical thinkers and informed citizens. It's a big call to say the world would be a better place if everyone was taught philosophy young, but what you'd certainly get is a more informed and critical population, which can only be a good thing. This is incentive enough to see philosophy subject taught in other states."

Personally, I think cruises sound boring. Except maybe one to the Galapagos Islands with a bunch of awesome scientists like Phil. How cool is that? You'd get to hear inspiring and toughtful talks like this one from PZ which he posts as Fragments of a Shipboard Talk. A small taste:

"The similarities between life here and on the mainland were the product of a simple explanation: they were related. Animals and plants from mainland South America had colonized the islands shortly after they'd formed. Accounting for the differences was the clever, tricky part. That species might change over time was not a new idea — among others, Lamarck had postulated that in the 18th century — but Darwin's new contribution was that he provided a mechanism, an explanation for HOW that change occurred. It was a mechanism that required no guidance, divine or otherwise, and that used a brutal sorting, rather than planning to generate new forms.

That mechanism is what made him famous. Natural selection is such a clear, simple idea that biologists around the world were wacking themselves in the forehead when they read his book, saying, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that!" He laid out the facts as everybody already knew them, with simple and irrefutible logic leading to an undeniable conclusion."

Pass It On: Vaccinations Are SAFE

Measles Cases Grow in Number, and Officials Blame Fear of Autism from the

Measles Cases at 12-Year High from the Baltimore Sun

Measles Outbreaks Worry CDC from WebMD

Addendum: Phil has more, with links for more information on this.

Read Research, NOT Newspapers

The great Ben Goldacre over at the Bad Science blog takes journalists (and obviously nutritionists which he labels with the synonyms "clown" and "dilettante") to task. Basically if you see an article about food written by a journalist you should feel free to ignore it.

"The newspapers are so profoundly overrun with pseudoscience about food that there’s no point in documenting it any longer. They will continue with their Sisyphean task of dividing all the inanimate objects in the world into the ones that either cause or cure cancer, and I will sit at the sidelines, making that joke over and over again."

The latest is this article claiming that "Red Wine could help prevent breast cancer."

In fact, exactly the opposite is true. "There is unlikely to be a safe level of alcohol which doesn’t increase the risk of breast cancer. Some studies have found that drinking just one unit a day can increase a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer."

(You can look up the Bad Science post but be warned it contains graphic images.)

Olivia Judson On Evolution

Olivia Judson has an thoughtful piece in the NYT on the optimism of evolution. Why we need to teach and learn about it to understand not only the past but what's happening in our environment all around, right now.

"But for me, the most important thing about studying evolution is something less tangible. It’s that the endeavor contains a profound optimism. It means that when we encounter something in nature that is complicated or mysterious, such as the flagellum of a bacteria or the light made by a firefly, we don’t have to shrug our shoulders in bewilderment."

Science for English Language Learners

Subtitled K-12 Classroom Strategies this excellent professional
resource is put out by the NSTA Press. Edited by Ann Fathman ans David Crowther, it's actually written by many top educators. It's short and easy to read with just the right combination of theory and nitty-gritty classroom techniques.


They get right to the point in Chapter One and this goes for more than just ELLs: "The science process skills--including observing, predicting, communicating, classifying, and analyzing--are almost the same as language learning skills--seeking information,
comparing, ordering, synthesizing, and evaluating."


ELLs are often denied content area instruction and there should be no real reason for this. If
you use an inquiry-based style of science teaching with a lot of hands on experiences and problem solving, then students at every level should be engaged and have something to contribute.

The book is packed with great references and links. If you teach science at all to any grade this book will be helpful, even if you don't have ELLs. I mean, be honest, aren't they all English Language Learners? Just for the methods on differentiating instruction in a content area with a lot of content are language, this book would be valuable for any teacher's professional library.
Highly recommended.

Tell Me A Story

That's the title of this amazing commencement speech. I know, I know, I already deemed this one the best ever. Well, now there are two. This one is from Radiolab's Robert Krulwitch. You've heard the awesomeness that is the Radiolab podcast, right?

Support Texas

PZ points out that some nutjobs in Texas are at it again, trying to mess with science standards. If you want to help out, support the Texas Freedom Network to fight off this newest attack on science in our schools.

No Danger From Cell Phones

Orac, as usual, has a great summary of why the recent "warnings" are a bunch of hooey.

Dr. Steven Novella tackled this last fall.


As far as the science shows, cell phones are as dangerous as a Yeti.

PZ Does Atlanta!

Here are images from last night's meeting of Pharyngulans and Atlanta Skeptics at Manuel's Tavern. At least a hundred smarties packed the place and a good time was had by all. And he says we win! That's Masala Skeptic speechifying. I also met Tim from What's the Harm? and many other wonderful people with their critical thinking faculties intact. At least until they had to split up the bar tab...

Microcosm

Carl Zimmer's new book Microcosm is so awesome, they created an online book club for it. I know I'd just read his Evolution and had other things in my stack, but there it was at the library in the New Books section, taunting me with it's shiny newness.

He uses the study of E. coli as a springboard for the study and questioning of life itself. It was great because it brought all the stuff in Evolution up to the modern microbiology and beyond. Did you know microbiology isn't much older than I am? In 1967, scientists cracked E. coli's genetic code. That was the first species we did and it led to some Nobel prizes and the creation of microbiology as a science.

The history is covered in the first chapter, but the last two chapters, in which Zimmer discusses the ethical quandaries and possible future of out microbiological work, get mind-blowing. They take us all the way up to an even newer science, astrobiology. This is something our Phoenix explorer on Mars is working on as you read this.

How cool is that?

Science Reading

PodBlack Blog, which I've mentioned before, has a great list of popular science books you might want to check out. It's in response to the new Entertainment Weekly "100 Best Reads" (which I won't link to here) that does not include any science books. My only quibble: I'd exchange Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything with the Natalie Angier book mentioned on the list.

Check it out.

A Year of Evolution

Well, it obviously takes more than a year. And it happens in more places than Philly. But how super duper cool is this? A whole year of cultural and scientific programming all happening from the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth to the 150th anniversary of the publication of his Origin of Species by Natural Selection. It looks just dazzlingly wonderful. Here's the link yet again.