ApharmdB - Slashdot User

Submission + - Testing the media-A bad science reporting honeypot (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by ApharmdB on Friday December 17, 2010 @11:31AM

ApharmdB writes: Slashdot commentators love them some "correlation!=causation". We also frequently gripe about the poor quality of science reporting by the media. A Guardian blogger from the mathematics department at Queen Mary, University of London has made a honeypot press release to see how bad it can get. (Or maybe to have some fun trolling the media?) The statistic used is the strong link between the number of mobile phone masts in an area and the number of live births. Of course, there is no causal link because they are both instead based on a 3rd variable, the local population size. Slashdot readers can keep on eye on news sources over the weekend to see just how much traction the story gets and watch the train wreck in real-time!

Submission + - Ancient Ecosystem Found in Ice Pocket

Submitted by ApharmdB on Friday April 17, 2009 @07:46AM

ApharmdB writes: Beneath a glacier in Antarctica, scientists have discovered a community of microbes growing in frigid pools of salty water. It's a particularly tough environment, with no light, no oxygen, and extremely cold temperatures. But the microbes appear to live — and thrive — off a combination of iron and sulfur, according to a new study. The result of that strange metabolism is a brilliant red streak of cascading ice called Blood Falls.

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