Bad science reporting

[sarahmichigan]

Headlines like this one really piss me off. They just give creationists and the like ammunition when editors write sensationalist headlines like "New Fossil Ape May Shatter Human Evolution Theory!"

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070822-fossil-ape.html

What the new discovery does is revise part of the timeline of human evolution, but it's not like the new discovery invalidates human evolution theory as a whole or anything. What it actually does is provide another missing link that changes the timeline of where they thought pre-humans split off from other primates. But that doesn't make a very sensational headline.

Shame on Nat'l Geographic, which I usually enjoy.

Comments

[mcniadh.livejournal.com]

That is an unfortunate headline. The new discovery is certainly a revision instead of invalidation. Here's something I wrote a while ago in response to another article along similar lines.

http://mcniadh.livejournal.com/102309.html

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

nice post.