Thank you for this clearly illustrative example of junk science and faulty reasoning. Articles such as yours that dissect flawed studies can help to promote scientific literacy. Education that fosters critical thinking and scientific reasoning has been inadequate, and that is now reflected in how people are making their political choices.
Thank you. I agree, and I think that the remedy starts with more support for critical thinking and scientific reasoning in K-12 public education. Many teachers want that too but don't have enough time (curricular requirements; testing; etc.)
Association or correlation is not causation. Establishing causation is another animal. However, they can be guides to defining research. Thanks for this thoughtful look at junk/bad science.
As a footnote, I should mention that the gut-brain axis has been connected to gut microbiota. I'll just keep it short here.
Thank you. Agreed. The researchers briefly mentioned gut microbiota but didn't draw any specific connections to their data. This resulted in data analysis being a sort of fishing expedition. They analyzed changes in 33 different bacterial phyla, and so of course some changes were detected.
Thank you for this clearly illustrative example of junk science and faulty reasoning. Articles such as yours that dissect flawed studies can help to promote scientific literacy. Education that fosters critical thinking and scientific reasoning has been inadequate, and that is now reflected in how people are making their political choices.
Thank you. I agree, and I think that the remedy starts with more support for critical thinking and scientific reasoning in K-12 public education. Many teachers want that too but don't have enough time (curricular requirements; testing; etc.)
Critical thinking is taught from an early age in many European countries.
Association or correlation is not causation. Establishing causation is another animal. However, they can be guides to defining research. Thanks for this thoughtful look at junk/bad science.
As a footnote, I should mention that the gut-brain axis has been connected to gut microbiota. I'll just keep it short here.
Thank you. Agreed. The researchers briefly mentioned gut microbiota but didn't draw any specific connections to their data. This resulted in data analysis being a sort of fishing expedition. They analyzed changes in 33 different bacterial phyla, and so of course some changes were detected.