Overview

What's healthy? What's unhealthy? What's safe? What's dangerous? Watch the news, and it's easy to be overwhelmed by snippets of badly presented science: information that's incomplete, confusing, contradictory, out-of-context, wrong, or flat-out dishonest. In this book, Dr. Sherry Seethaler provides a ""bag of tricks"" for making sense of science in the news. You'll learn how to think more sensibly about everything from mad cow disease to global warming and make better science-related decisions in both your personal life and as a citizen. You'll begin by understanding how science really works and progresses, and why scientists sometimes disagree. Seethaler helps you assess the possible biases of those who make scientific claims in the media, and place scientific issues in appropriate context, so you can intelligently assess tradeoffs. You'll learn how to determine whether a new study is really meaningful; uncover the difference between cause and mere coincidence; figure out which statistics mean something, and which don't. Finally, drawing on her extensive experience as a science journalist, she reveals the tricks self-interested players use to mislead and confuse you, and points you to sources of information you can actually rely upon. Seethaler's many examples range from genetic engineering of crops to drug treatments for depression, but the techniques she teaches you will be invaluable in understanding any scientific controversy, in any area of science or health.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sherry Seethaler
Publisher:   Pearson Education (US)
Imprint:   Addison Wesley
Dimensions:   Width: 10.00cm , Height: 10.00cm , Length: 10.00cm
Weight:   0.100kg
ISBN:  

9780132849449

ISBN 10:   0132849445
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   19 October 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Preface  xvii Introduction  xix Chapter 1: Potions, Plot, Personalities: Understand How Science Progresses and Why Scientists Sometimes Disagree  1 Chapter 2: Who’s Who?: Identify Those Who Hold Stake in an Issue and What Their Positions Are  29 Chapter 3: Decisions, Decisions: Elucidate All the Pros and Cons of a Decision  43 Chapter 4: Compare and Contrast: Place Alternatives in an Appropriate Context to Evaluate Tradeoffs  59 Chapter 5: What Happens If…?: Distinguish Between Cause and Coincidence  73 Chapter 6: Specific or General: Recognize How Broadly the Conclusions from a Study May Be Applied  89 Chapter 7: Fun Figures: See Through the Number Jumble  99 Chapter 8: Society’s Say: Discern the Relationships Between Science and Policy  113 Chapter 9: All the Tricks in the Book: Get Past the Ploys Designed to Simply Bypass Logic  139 Chapter 10: Fitting The Pieces Together: Know How to Seek Information to Gain a Balanced Perspective  161 Conclusions: Twenty Essential Applications of the Tools  177 Acknowledgments  183 About the Author  184 Index  185

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Author Information

Sherry Seethaler, a science writer and educator at the University of California, San Diego, works with scientists to explain their discoveries to the public. She also writes a column for the San Diego Union-Tribune answering readers’ questions about science. Seethaler holds an M.S. and Master of Philosophy in biology from Yale, and a Ph.D. in science and math education from UC Berkeley.

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