Bad Science

BAD SCIENCE

BadScience

Nicholas McDermott wrote the article “Chocolate and Fizzy DrinksCould Be Used as Cancer Detectors Because Malignant Tumors Feed offSugar” in 2013, which is misleading because he misinterprets acrucial research finding. He draws his conclusion on GlucoCEST, ascanning technique that detect the glucose level taken by cancerouscells (Lewandowsky,Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz, and Cook, (2012). According toMcDermott, malignant tumors consume more glucose compared to healthytissues (Mcdermott,2013). Today, scientists are hugely involved in cancerresearch, and every year, some new advances and technologies comealong with improvement in survival. Unfortunately, they may beharmful to patients and the general public if the funders,researchers, and the media do not give the findings in a scientificaccuracy way. In this particular article, McDermott gives a confusingcurrent state of research, and he reinforces contrary information. Hegives an inaccurate reflection of a significant research that demandsthe attention of its conclusions.

A misleading research has a detrimental impact on the general public.Firstly, it is simply misleading as it gives wrong information. Ifthe initial information is accepted as valid and afterward found tobe inaccurate, it can have a persistent influence on people’sreasoning and memory. Unfortunately, it is a complex task to correctit because it requires a lot of mental work. Lewandowsky,Ecker, USeifert, Schwarz, and Cook, (2012), argue thatcorrection of misleading information is ineffective even when peopleare aware of its inaccuracy. Sadly, people continue to rely onwithdrawn misinformation in their inferential interpretation. Inaddition, if update information is provided to reduce misleadingeffects, it is usually unproductive. It is error-prone to do so, andthe misleading information continues to linger in peoples’ minddespite the corrections.

References

Lewandowsky,S., Ecker, U. K., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., &amp Cook, J. (2012).Misinformation and its correction continued influence and successfuldebiasing.&nbspPsychologicalScience in the Public Interest,&nbsp13(3),106-131.

Mcdermott, N.(2013, July 07). Chocolate and fizzy drinks could be used as cancerdetectors because malignant tumours feed off sugar. Retrieved January16, 2017, fromhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2357929/Chocolate-fizzy-drinks-used-cancer-detectors-malignant-tumours-feed-sugar.html