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Wednesday 2 September 2009

Hall of Shame

For text most deserving of a place in Pseud's Corner:
Drug may kill cancer 'mother' cells (Press Association)
Like the terrifying "mother" in Ridley Scott's Alien films, cancer stem cells are elusive, highly aggressive, and hard to defeat.
And just as destroying the mother Alien prevented more of her brood threatening
humanity, scientists believe tackling tumour stem cells could eradicate a
cancer's source.
Cancer stem cells.

For the most bizarre, unchallenged, scientific extrapolation:
How green is Richard Branson? (Wired Magazine)
'If bio-butanol turns out to be the success we believe it will be,'
Branson says, 'then one achieves making a big difference in the world
and paying the bills. Which the only way it's going to work,
long-term.' Yet large-scale isobutanol production is untested, and
some think it may be harmful. Deepak Rughani of Biofuelwatch says:
'You'd need GM microbes to break down woody tissues. If they escaped,
they would eat their way through our forests.'

Please e-mail us your candidates for the Hall of Shame.

You might suggest categories such as:
  • Most dubious use of statistics
  • Most tenuous attempt at balance
  • Most inappropriate headline
Whatever it is, if it makes you want to laugh/cry/tear your hair out, we'll consider it!