How Thinking People Read News About Science: The Double X Double-Take

May 1, 2012January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Emily Willingham doublexscience.blogspot.com www.ThinkingAutismGuide.com Handy short-form version. [image: Light purple vertical rectangle, with black text reading: Double X Double-Take Checklist for reading science news 1. Skip the headline. 2. What is the basis of the article: original research, opinion, review of previous work? 3. What words does the article use? Link, correlation, risk, association don’t mean “biological cause” 4. Look at the original source of the information. Is it from a journal, a conference presentation, a marketing tool? 5. Remember that everyone involved in what you’re reading has some return on what they’re seeking. 6. Ask a scientist for clarification. Don’t be afraid. We like to talk about science.] You’ve probably seen a lot of headlines lately about autism and various behaviors, ways of being, or “toxins” that, the headlines tell you, are “linked” to it. Maybe you’re considering having a child and are mentally tallying up the various risk factors…

Disability

Autism and Environmental Chemicals: A Call for Caution

July 1, 2010January 31, 2022 by Shannon Des Roches Rosa

Emily Willingham http://daisymayfattypants.blogspot.com Pardon me for a moment while I get a bit sciency on you. In a former life, I was a scientist who conducted research in the field of endocrine-disrupting compounds. We focused on compounds that accumulate in body fat. The list of these compounds is long … almost endless … and many of these chemicals occur in what we consume, wear, sit on, wash with, and eat from. The term “endocrine disruptor” doesn’t even encompass the physiological systems that some of these compounds affect, and one system that interacts and overlaps with the endocrine system — the two cannot be separated, frankly, and I dare anyone teaching physiology to try — is the neurological system. Our neurology and our endocrinology are integrated, and compounds that influence or disrupt one often will do the same to the other. It all started with what we used to call environmental…