re: #299 freetoken

Color me not surprised, but the media is getting it wrong on science, again:

Degrees of learning in the genes

Yeah, its about the new paper I linked just a bit ago.

Recommend reading the press release of that paper, then look again at that Australian Broadcasting headlines.

Anyway, in the body of that ABC entry:

Ok, as I say Math iz Hard, and statistics will throw most novices for a loop, but something needs to be set straight here.

As you can see from my links earlier, the actual effect detected by genetic differences is quite small. There was a statistically significant measurable difference, but when a scientist uses the phrase “statistically significant” what that means is that the variance in the data is small enough compared to the actual value of the data to pass an accepted threshold (and those thresholds are different depending on the nature of the science involved, and even the fields of study.)

For ABC to write “… found three genetic markers that were significantly linked to an individual’s … ” is to mislead their readers, as the readers will almost certainly interpret “significantly” in lay terms and as used in common English when discussing relative values of whatever (say, the price of cars.)

The ABC story then goes on to try and convey the actual meaning of the story, but what ABC has done is confuse their readers by the third paragraph enough that further elaboration in the article is unlikely to help. A particular bright reader might read the article and wonder why, if .02% is the largest difference for which any single allele can account, did the ABC writer call this “significant”, frankly I doubt few of the ABC readers will have read down that far and even if they do if they really catch this.

I’m not just being a pedant here. There is a real lack of communication and furthermore misses an important interpretation of the actual results.

Most scientists I know are disgusted by the media’s inability to print accurate science stories. Your exposing their stupidity is quite useful, so keep doing it.