Sensationalism

Science can be dry and confusing. Scientists attempted to make catfish less susceptible to illness by injecting them with a specific gene found in alligators. (These catfish were farmed for food)
Not interesting enough? Not enough to click it?
Spice it up
Now these will get clicks!
But what impression are they giving?
Dangerous bad science?
What does it make people think?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rome: Part One

Image
https://youtu.be/x8ZzO873e48?si=nKLVpA2w_YXvaH5q https://youtu.be/Pf0v4M0Y5cg?si=_skDhkEaQVakpMTC The story goes that one of the Trojan heroes from Homer's Illiad story, Aeneas , fled Greece after the war and settled in present-day Italy. There he founded the city of Alba Longa. His descendants would rein, until one day King Numitor was overthrown and exiled by his brother, Amulius who named himself as King. He set about punishing anyone who supported the exiled King Numitor. He condemned King Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia to serve as a Vestal Virgin. This was a highly honored role of ceremonial responsibility where the six priestesses to the goddess, Vesta were forbidden from having relations with a man. https://youtu.be/ER0Cu0KQFqM?si=JJcOUIvirN_DYHWn However, as a Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silva became pregnant by the God of War, Mars. Any children born to her would have a claim to the Roman throne. Therefore, when Rhea Silvia gave birth, not to one child but tw...
Read more

Big Tobacco

Image
https://youtu.be/9h-6Udx8G2o?si=kVL4tzgzET8iTjGz Tobacco has been a popular commodity for hundreds of years. In 1880, cigarettes become pass produced. Young & old, rich & poor smoked them for decades. During World War Two, they were provided to soldiers as rations, necessary supplies. In the late 1940s, Scientists and doctors began to note the effects of cigarettes. The first study linking smoking and cancer was in 1950. Multiple studies came out in the 1950s to reinforce the findings that cigarettes were dangerous. Multiple countries studied multiple smokers and nonsmokers from different backgrounds and lifestyles and found statistically significant data that those who smoked had cancer more often. The tobacco companies worried about losing their livelihood. They paid scientists to release studies that disagreed. Confirmation bias Newspapers and magazines announced the study with headlines such as, "SCIENTIST DISPUTES FINDINGS OF CANCER RISK TO SMOKERS AN...
Read more

Colonialism

Image
What is Colonialism? Colonialism is the practice of one country taking control of another and exploiting it for their own gain. Under this definition, Colonialism has always existed in some form. Every Empire there's ever been has practiced Colonialism. However, this Colonialism was always much more local, invading the next nation over instead of nations far away across an ocean. After the voyages of discovery by people like Colombus and Magellan, the whole world became avaliable for profit. Old Empires New Empires Why Colonialism? Historians generally sum the reasons behind Colonialism into three categories, "Gold, God and Glory" Gold During the middle ages, Europeans had struggled as subsistence farmers. Noble people owned everything and poor people worked for them only. Famines killed millions. Before the discovery of the new world, Europe looked very different. The English didn't y...
Read more