http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro Separating the wheat from the chaff of media reporting on brain science Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:00:00 GMT en-us http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/index.htm 'Bypass Brain': How surgery may affect mental activity, the Tuesday, June 10, 2008, WSJ Health Journal column by Melinda Beck passes muster as a rare germs of wheat according to the neurocurmudgeons hanging around the Mill. Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:00:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn68 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn67 Now that the neurojournalists have discovered... Tue, 3 Jun 2008 20:17:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn67 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn66 Well...more chaff from the genre of use 'brain' to market whatever it is you've got to sell... Thu, 1 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn66 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn65 We thank a fellow neurocurmudgeon for bringing this piece to the attention of the Mill. With the price of grain being what it is we appreciate all sources of grist... Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:52:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn65 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn64 The neurocurmudgeons are out "scanning" in earnest! We apologize to those who think the Mill is biased towards chaff over wheat. (Neuro-imagers, pay attention - when you do this study remember to credit us!). We'd like to claim we just call 'em as we see 'em. (Hey, another potential study!) Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:52:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn64 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn63 One of our favorite neurocurmudgeons sent us this link with a plea "please, make it stop"! If only we could... Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:31:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn63 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn62 Did you think the neurocurmudgeons had gone into hibernation? Well to be honest, we were storing up some energy in anticipation of the Valentine's Day silly season soon to be upon us with all the expected, if increasingly tired "this is your brain on love" stories. In fact, why haven't our neuro-imaging colleagues asked us to participate in studies of "anticipation" or more trendily "dread". Hmmm... will it be our anterior cingulate or our amygdala that lights up when we are shown the date February 14 or the dates of the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting? Anyway, back to today's posting... Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:39:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn62 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn61 Well, well, well - the neurocurmudgeons are not feeling quite so all alone in the world... Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:39:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn61 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn60 For today's posting the neurocurmudgeons ask that you cut us a little slack (and yes, we know this is something we rarely are willing to do for others) because the story is not technically "neurojournalism" although it does contain a passing reference to Parkinson's Disease. However - the "package" from teaser to headline to story serves as a good model of how the way most basic science studies are reported misleads rather than informs the public... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn60 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn59 The neurocurmudgeons had heard about Proust was a Neuroscientist, the new book by wunderkind Jonah Lehrer and thought to ourselves - another opportunistic repackaging of what are essentially behavioral observations as neuroscience. We are stuck living in a time when for various reasons - the brain sells. Most of the greatest novelists and artists are great observers and raconteurs of human behavior... Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn59 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn58 The neurocurmudgeons thought long and hard before deciding to draw attention to this particular kind of chaff. Anorexia nervosa is a serious illness with devastating effects on those who suffer from it as well as the impacts it has on an individual's family and friends. What disturbed us was the following observation... Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn58 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn57 This story fulfills one basic criteria for chaff... Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn57 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn56 Sensitive to the criticism that the Mill seems to turn out more chaff than wheat (although we don't see this as our fault...) we neurocurmudgeons are looking harder for good things to highlight. So, although we are put off by the style of this Salon piece brought to our attention and we could find much to quibble with regarding the science, we're going to call it "wheat". Why? Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/wheat.htm#bn56 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn55 Just when the neurocurmudgeons were wondering if we could simply award the New York Times a Lifetime Achievement Award for consistently bad coverage of imaging studies of brain/mind science and save ourselves the trouble of having to explain again and again the basic traps its reporters fall into, we were alerted to their latest “neuro-imaging as parlor trick” shtick. This is your brain on politics. Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn55 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn54 The neurocurmudgeons were quite stung recently to read a blog posting that we are indeed curmudgeonly and that we tend to suck the fun out of all the excitement about reporting on the brain. SO, in an effort to soften our image and let some of the "fun and excitement" of misrepresenting neuroscience to the public go by unremarked, we were not going to post anything, regardless of how silly, on the news stories about UCLA study of conservative versus liberal brains. But... Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:20:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn54 http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn53 Birds do it Bees do it Even sleeping little baby brains do it... The neurocurmudgeons came across this little gem and, dare we say it, we are just abuzz! Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:30:00 GMT Neurocurmudgeons http://www.jsmf.org/badneuro/chaff.htm#bn53