Bad Science Journalism
purepedantry | June 3, 2008Thank you Vaughan at Mind Hacks for saving me another long-winded rant about this subject. Vaughan takes an article in the NYTimes to task for suggesting that sarcasm "resides" in particular areas of the brain:
Finally, to say that sarcasm "resides" in one particular place in the brain from a study like this is just daft. It's like concluding fun "resides" in a particular area of the city because you've noticed that the population enjoyed themselves less after the cinema burnt down.
Read the whole thing.
Mental processes don't live anywhere. They are derived from the systematic interaction…
purepedantry | August 14, 2007This has got to be the dumbest article I have ever read.
The headline reads: Brain blood flow helps treat depression.
Well, yeah. Try having a brain without blood flow, and you will be pretty depressed too.
It gets better. Here is what the article says:
Israeli scientists have confirmed the usefulness of established molecular imaging approaches in the treatment of depression.
"Individuals in a depressed emotional state have impaired cerebral blood flow," said Associate Professor Omer Bonne at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem. "Clinical improvement in depression is…