At last, the gene for poor science journalism has been discovered.
Comments have been disabled.
DONORS CHOOSE CHALLENGE
About the Author
Freethought Blogs
- A Citizen of Earth
- A Million Gods
- Ace of Clades
- Alethian Worldview
- Almost Diamonds
- Ashley Miller
- Biodork
- Black Skeptics
- Blag Hag
- Brute Reason
- Butterflies and Wheels
- Comradde PhysioProffe
- Dispatches from the Culture Wars
- En Tequila Es Verdad
- Greta Christina's Blog
- Heteronormative Patriarchy for Men
- Lousy Canuck
- Mano Singham
- Maryam Namazie
- Near-Earth Object
- No Country for Women
- NonStampCollector
- Pharyngula
- Reasonable Doubts
- Richard Carrier Blogs
- Rock Beyond Belief
- Sincerely, Natalie Reed
- The Atheist Experience
- The Crommunist Manifesto
- The Digital Cuttlefish
- The Zingularity
- This Week in Christian Nationalism
- Token Skeptic
- YEMMYnisting
- Zinnia Jones
PostsCommentsArchives
Recent Posts
- Who’s getting silenced?
- Women in Secularism is going strong
- Spare me this ‘deficit model’ nonsense
- Friday Cephalopod: The Great White Cuttle
- Creeps get what they deserve
- After they defeat Darwin, the creationists will be coming after psychiatry next
- The scarlet crayon of atheism
- Botanical Wednesday: Twisty
- I think we call that an own goal
- If you can’t make it to Washington DC this weekend…
FTB RecentFTB Active
FTB Recent
- Dancing Google Android by Comradde PhysioProffe
- [#wiscfi liveblog] Secularism: A Right and Demand of Women Worldwide by Miri, Professional Fun-Ruiner
- Women In Secularism 2 - Maryam Namazie liveblog #wiscfi by Jason Thibeault
- Thinking about heaven, hell, purgatory, and other ways to waste your time by Mano Singham
- [#wiscfi liveblog] The History of Atheism, Feminism, and the Science of Brains by Miri, Professional Fun-Ruiner
- Girls: Missing Victims of Religious Sexual Abuse? by Stephanie Zvan
FTB Active
- [Lounge #418] by PZ Myers
- Open letter to Corey Keplinger by Russell Glasser
- Is misandry simply misogyny in disguise? by Ally Fogg
- "But I'm a man and I don't feel like I have any privilege." by Miri, Professional Fun-Ruiner
- More documenting the harassment by Ophelia Benson
- Leave Dan Brown Alone! by Ed Brayton
Profile
Frequently Read Threads
Commenting Rules
The Desert Tortoises With Boltcutters Civility Pledge
[Introductions]: Meet the other commenters
The [Lounge]: a safe space; friendly chat; moderated
The [Thunderdome]: no-holds-barred unmoderated chaos

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
• my calendar
• Nature Network
• RichardDawkins Network
• MySpace
• Atheist Nexus
• the Pharyngula chat room
(#pharyngula on irc.synirc.net)
•
![]()
Chris Clarke is a science and natural history writer, editor, and
environmental protection activist in Joshua Tree, California.
• Coyote Crossing
• my writing
at KCET
• Desert Biodiversity
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google
Plus
• Walking
With Zeke
• Walking
With Zeke (iBookstore)
I reserve the right to publicly post, with full identifying information about the source, any email sent to me that contains threats of violence.
Recent Comments
- David Jones on The scarlet crayon of atheism
- theophontes (恶六六六缓步动物) on [Thunderdome]
- SallyStrange on Spare me this ‘deficit model’ nonsense
- SallyStrange on Who’s getting silenced?
- theophontes (恶六六六缓步动物) on Spare me this ‘deficit model’ nonsense
- John Morales on Who’s getting silenced?
- Rey Fox on Who’s getting silenced?
- rq on [Lounge #418]
- Rey Fox on Spare me this ‘deficit model’ nonsense
- John Morales on Who’s getting silenced?
- Kali Dali on Who’s getting silenced?
- John Morales on Who’s getting silenced?
- Muz on Who’s getting silenced?
- Nick Gotts (formerly KG) on Who’s getting silenced?
- Nick Gotts (formerly KG) on Who’s getting silenced?



17 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
moarscienceplz
4 January 2013 at 9:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
We must sequence Keith Kloor immediately!
Gnumann+, Invoker of Mansplaining
4 January 2013 at 10:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No mention of control here – have they sequenced Ben Goldacre and Simon Singh?
cervantes
4 January 2013 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Found by Top Docs, no doubt.
holytape
4 January 2013 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is this new gene perhaps related to the fox-1 news gene family?
Dick the Damned
4 January 2013 at 11:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Jumpin’ Jebus on a stick, do you think this could explain the press releases that come out of the Discovery Institute?
stonyground
4 January 2013 at 12:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It isn’t just science. All of you out there must have all kinds of random interests about which you have fairly extensive knowledge. Often if you read a newspaper or magazine article about one of your particular pet subjects you will find that it is riddled with errors and made up stuff.
jacklewis
4 January 2013 at 12:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Who came up with this awful idea of putting all the links and crap on the left side.
I read like most from left to right and unless I run the browser maximized all the time, this means scrolling to the right all the time to read any article…
Just terrible UI design.
Rev. BigDumbChimp
4 January 2013 at 12:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
all
the
damn
time
rorschach
4 January 2013 at 12:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
But is the gene subject to epigenetic modulation, depending on whether the journalist’s parents were HuffPo or New Scientist readers? Inquiring minds want to know!
Moggie
4 January 2013 at 12:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Why the high concentration of the gene at the Daily Mail? Inbreeding?
Thomathy, Gay Where it Counts
4 January 2013 at 1:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yawn.
_____
I can think of a few science journalists who could benefit from some gene therapy, if one is developed to treat this unfortunate genetic affliction.
SallyStrange: Elite Femi-Fascist Genius
4 January 2013 at 1:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
There must be an evolutionary psychology reason for the existence of this gene.
Daz
4 January 2013 at 3:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well, if it was good enough for the synod of Hippo, it’s good enough for the Daily Mail…
robro
4 January 2013 at 4:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Scientist journalists must spawn in university PR departments. Some of the more outrageous articles I’ve seen on Science Daily were just republished university PR pieces about a “major breakthrough” discovered by some team centered at the school. It’s a real coupe if it hits Google News, of course, or HuffPuff, and for that purpose the more outlandish the better.
Daz
4 January 2013 at 4:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[Off Topic]
jacklewis
You spurred me to write up a workaround I found/created. If you’re on Firefox, this might be of help.
cicely (The Less Sore of Two Measles)
4 January 2013 at 6:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“[...]or whether the ancient Mayans discovered the gene before modern science.”
It was the ancient Egyptians. Or possibly the Chinese.
-
khms
6 January 2013 at 1:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I think the best of these articles is the original one at http://www.speld.nl/2011/07/09/gen-voor-slechte-wetenschapsjournalistiek-gevonden/ – if you don’t speak the language, I think the sense comes through even with Google Translate: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speld.nl%2F2011%2F07%2F09%2Fgen-voor-slechte-wetenschapsjournalistiek-gevonden%2F