Articles Upcoming...June 11, 2011 at Follow The Honey in Harvard Square
Upcoming...June 11, 2011 at Follow The Honey in Harvard Square
The People’s Homework: Bee Informed!
How and Why Science Must Be Read Critically By The Masses
Laurie Herboldsheimer and Dean Stiglitz: Golden Rule Honey
6PM on June 11, 2012 at Follow The Honey in Harvard Square
Scientific studies are too often reported by the media based on the claims made rather than as a result of analyzing what was actually done and what the results actually show.
The result is “reportable facts”…the basis for a news story designed to sell media rather than a solid stepping stone on the path towards “Truth”. We are often selling honey at farmers markets, and in a single day we might hear from customers (who are doing their best to stay informed) that the cause of honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder has been found to be a virus, pesticides, malnutrition, mites, fungus, HFCS, cell phones, GMOs, etc…all causes that have been presented to them by the media as science. But has the media actually reported the facts, or just the claims?
We will look closely at 3 recently published studies on honeybee biology (one of which has garnered a great deal of attention in the media), and compare the claims of the authors to what work was actually done, and what was actually shown by the work (sometimes they match…other times, not). Of great import is the fact that very poor product can come out of very prestigious institutions and from very well respected researchers. You can’t tell a book by its cover, and you can’t tell a study by its claims…or its pedigree.
Other issues, including flaws in the research system which makes it virtually impossible for researchers to admit mistakes, funding biases, and how changes in the publishing industry have made access to publicly funded research difficult and costly (even in this age of information) will also be covered.
The three studies we will discuss are:
“In Situ Replication of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder,” Chensheng Lu, Kenneth M. Warchol, Richard A. Callahan, Bulletin of Insectology, June 2012
Seeley, Thomas D. and Griffin, Sean R. 2011. “Small-cell comb does not control Varroa mites in colonies of honeybees of European origin”. Apidologie 42:526-532, DOI: 10.1007/s13592-011-0054-4
Martinson VG, Moy J, Moran NA. 2012. Establishment of characteristic gut bacteria during development of the honey bee worker. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. February 3, 2012
While the presentation will be addressing academic studies, all material will be presented in a “user-friendly” format. Everyone is welcome – you don’t need to be a scientist to be a critical thinker –in many ways it helps not to be!