Use the Evidence Test to Spot Garbage Science News
News based on bad scientific evidence is everywhere, but you don’t have time to check every claim about the strange properties of wine or a new suspicious way to lose weight. To quickly filter out junk, ask how obvious the test’s findings are.
As astrophysicist Michael Brown explains, if the findings of the study are so obvious that someone must have thought about it before, then they probably were. He uses the example of a recent study that argued that the universe is not expanding at an accelerated rate . Most of the authoritative research claims this to be the case, but this study asks the obvious question, “What if it isn’t?” This is Brown’s first clue that this study may not be entirely accurate.
As Brown says, “It’s obvious, why didn’t someone think about it sooner?” Well, maybe someone did it. When a study announces something really big and basic, Brown suggests that you search the ad – chances are you will find that the topic has been studied many times before. If you find that this is the case, and if you find that no one else has come to the same conclusion, then you have a red flag that should prompt you to take a close look at the methodology of the new study.
Obvious questions have usually been studied for a long time, and you can usually find that they have already been disproved. For example, if tons of sugar were really good for you, someone would have discovered it long ago.
3 Tips for Preventing Fake News in Science | Big think