Jessica Severson theseversons.net Part one surveys the first part of the sequence of events by which research turns into pseudoscience, and “truth fades away in favor of headlines and pageviews and gossip.” Onward. Part Five: News Articles This is a process. First research, then op-ed, then press release and finally news articles. So what’s the headline of our news article? Top 10 Chemicals Most Likely to Cause Autism and Learning Disabilities. Guilty of serious fear mongering, no? A more accurate title may be: Researchers propose list of chemicals potentially tied to neurological development for further study. But I doubt anyone’s going to write that. The article itself, to be fair, is full of caveats. The reasons for the increase in autism are “controversial.” There is a “gap in the science.” But then you get a sentence like this: But clearly, there is more to the story than simply genetics, as…
