Imbibing scientific temparament into oneself has been hammered into us time and again.
We are being spammed by results of scientific studies almost every day - on the net, in newspapers, on the TV, and in magazines too.
I came across an interesting study on how the world's most expensive coffee comes into being.
The initial discussion is how the Asian Palm Civet eats raw coffee berries which are defecated by this exotic creature, the beans then washed, and sold as coffee beans to make the world's most expensive coffee with a unique taste.
The study seems to suggest that the bean undergoes some sort of transformation within the civet's digestive system which gives the bean its unique flavor.
Then as a footnote, the study adds - the taste is unique quite probably because civets only forage on the most ripe berries and later excrete the seeds eventually used for human consumption.
Thank good for the disclaimer - now we can view things in a different perspective.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak
Another study on a completely different topic claimed that pregnant women under stress bore children who had a much lesser IQ and had learning disabilites. The study was carried out in Alaska at a storm shelter where offspring born there were found to have a much lesser IQ, because their mothers were stressed up due to the natural calamity, the report said.
Then the disclaimer - the study carried out on pregnant women at the storm shelter, belonged to the lower strata of society and perhaps it was but natural that their children should have lesser IQ and poor coping skills.
Thanks to these disclaimers.
Red wine some researchers argue is good for the heart in small doses. But another study goes on to say that to get the right dose of the "good chemical" in red wine, one would have to imbibe the drink in such a huge quantity that it would be mortally fatal to an imbiber.
These pros and cons on every subject under the sun have been made public.
Scientists have been mixing up the cause and effect of phenomena for ages. And results of studies that could mean almost anything have been put up as venerable scientific studies.
So next time you read the results of a scientific study somewhere, take it with a pinch of salt.
Poetic license should not not be a word in the scientist's dictionary!
5 months ago