tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post4363778823642463814..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: Why Do University Press Releases Continue to Spread Misinformation?Larry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-45207938826780332562013-02-15T14:09:01.462-05:002013-02-15T14:09:01.462-05:00This is an informative post review. I am so please...<br />This is an informative post review. I am so pleased to get this post article. I was looking forward to get such a post which is very helpful to us. A big thank for posting this article in this website. Keep it up.<br /><br /><a href="http://james-nolan-nn5w.squarespace.com/" rel="nofollow"> Santa Fe</a><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07312837145047749286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-86533129185643196612013-02-13T19:35:32.970-05:002013-02-13T19:35:32.970-05:00As as science educator I find your incuriosity tow...As as science educator I find your incuriosity toward the problem of habitually bad press releases (the front line of science outreach and communication) baffling. The way you respond is to take lazy pot shots at them and then assert that they're expendable organs of the university. It makes no sense. caynazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263280738905977688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-7046314737324177362013-02-13T17:44:46.940-05:002013-02-13T17:44:46.940-05:00Outright lying.
We need a word to describe press ...Outright lying.<br /><br />We need a word to describe press releases which <b>lie about the alleged stupidity or allegedly flawed hypotheses of past generations of scientists, in order to make today's published work look better by comparison against a fictional, ignorant past.</b> <br /><br />Maybe we should call it "Paradigm SHAFT"!?<br /><br /><br />Here's another example from cosmology, <a href="http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/" rel="nofollow">a press release from NASA</a> saying that the whole science of cosmology was nothing but <b>"wild speculations"</b> until their more precise measurements of the cosmic microwave anisotropy were made by WMAP.<br /><br />Outright lying. We have to put a stop it. Name and blame.<br /><br />The obvious, classic example is the lying press release put out by the ENCODE project saying that they had proven that 80% of the human genome had "function", thus disproving Junk DNA.<br /><br />Maybe we should call such press releases "Birneys"? "Birneyisms"?Diogeneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15551943619872944637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-54552870035460425972013-02-12T15:32:03.259-05:002013-02-12T15:32:03.259-05:00What does that mean? So far my university has done...What does that mean? So far my university has done a pretty good job with press releases. <br /><br />Here's one on the recent analysis of placental mammal evolution [<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/our-furry-scampering-common-ancestor?utm_source=Bulletin&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=Lead" rel="nofollow">Our furry, scampering common ancestor</a>]. It's a complicated subject but they did a pretty good job. <br />Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-48054819495249296932013-02-12T14:21:53.334-05:002013-02-12T14:21:53.334-05:00You can afford to be obstinant about it all becaus...You can afford to be obstinant about it all because you're clearly not calling the shots at your university. caynazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263280738905977688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-25872195833112290392013-02-11T21:22:46.559-05:002013-02-11T21:22:46.559-05:00This bizarre conflation of the idea from cosmology...This bizarre conflation of the idea from cosmology of matter that's very difficult to directly detect ("dark matter") with the idea from genetics of DNA that does not directly code for proteins (untranscribed DNA, the vast majority of which can be termed "junk DNA") reminds me of conversations I used to have with non-scientist friends.<br /><br />I've had several conversations that started out with some variation on "You're a scientist, right? OK, can I ask you a question about something that's been bugging me? Yeah, I don't get Black Body Radiation". <br />My expertise in Physics is very limited. I like to think I have some expertise in Biology, but when a non-scientist thinks about science, they often seem to think about Physics first, and Biology only if the conversation turns to medicine.<br /><br />But, none of that should apply to a press release. Somebody needs to ask the author of that press release if they frequently get confused between Sweden and Switzerland, or by which is faster, the speed of light or the speed of sound.TheBrummellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-1629130869088128122013-02-11T21:20:57.219-05:002013-02-11T21:20:57.219-05:00No, that's not the question I should be asking...No, that's not the question I should be asking. The question I am asking is whether my university can afford to embarrass itself by putting out inaccurate and misleading press releases. If the unit doesn't have enough employees or enough money then it shouldn't put out press releases. <br /><br />No press releases are ten times better than bad press releases. Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-35966850783580280252013-02-11T19:44:25.695-05:002013-02-11T19:44:25.695-05:00That should read "How well staffed..."That should read "How well staffed..."caynazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263280738905977688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-72193817851656836262013-02-11T19:43:55.875-05:002013-02-11T19:43:55.875-05:00Larry Moran: "Why do press releases have to b...Larry Moran: "Why do press releases have to be so misleading?"<br /><br />The question you should be asking is How is well staffed and funded is my university press release department and are the deadlines for publishing content reasonable for non-specialists to do justice to the paper they are covering? <br /><br />caynazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263280738905977688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-5208916684201595092013-02-11T13:40:26.808-05:002013-02-11T13:40:26.808-05:00Press releases are like genes, if there's inte...Press releases are like genes, if there's interest in them/selection pressure for them, they're accurate/conserved. Since no one reads press releases seriously, they're unconserved and degenerate into dross.<br /><br />Unfortunately my analogy fails, for a few reasons perhaps, but most importantly because some people do take press releases and the news 'articles' that are based off of them quite seriously.<br /><br />Schenckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10802843636373254323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-16587500789339810672013-02-10T19:22:53.703-05:002013-02-10T19:22:53.703-05:00Given that TERT and its expression level has been ...Given that TERT and its expression level has been heavily implicated in carcinogenesis for at least a decade, I don't see what the fuss is about. Had the exact same paper been authored by someone at Montana State, it would not have even be reviewed in Science. DKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04761138604438222762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-6513267099015802002013-02-10T05:11:03.262-05:002013-02-10T05:11:03.262-05:00Ok I'm coming up for grant renewal soon so I&#...Ok I'm coming up for grant renewal soon so I've written my next press release:<br /><br /><i>Promoters are mysterious regions of the genome that somehow influence gene expression. Some call them the "God Sequence". How they work and even their existence has been debated by leading researchers for decades. Until now.</i> SRMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07299706694667706149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-90717815134740897322013-02-10T01:04:23.571-05:002013-02-10T01:04:23.571-05:00I just knew you were going to have a post about th...I just knew you were going to have a post about this one - so egregious it was when I first saw it.<br /><br />It's not even an enhancers - we can be generous and consider enhancers relatively difficult to find it because some of them are not very conserved - it's a promoter...Georgi Marinovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12226357993389417752noreply@blogger.com