You Talk Way Too Much

"What if everything you knew was a lie?" - well, that would clearly be on a par with the moon landing, the New Deal Jesus, Pearl Harbour, JFK assasination, Obamania, 9/11... and some other ones I can't work out, but don't seem too important. Our Air, Our Water, Our Life... Creation! 25/05/09!!! What on earth could this be?

Prepare to be underwhelmed. It's the unveiling of a fossil. Specifically, it's the unveiling of the first Darwinius masillae fossil, a very well preserved one, named Ida:

Ida is a VIP (very important primate) - and as Ed Yong reports, the media response has been nothing short of rapturous. This revolves around the notion of a "missing link" - even before we knew what the discovery was, John Wilkins on Evolving Thoughts had his doubts about this term - he also worries about announcing the "common ancestor of primates".

We are by now very much aware of the hype our media plasters over news stories. To translate them to large numbers of people in an interesting way, in our contemporary news-as-entertainment culture, they have to be blown up to significant proportions, and made 2-D and digestible in the process. It's difficult to imagine a more inappropriate or common example of this than in scientific discovery, where a public that often lacks the scientific knowledge to comprehend the raw importance of discovery needs it processed. This is the root cause of the foodstuff-causes-cancer news story.

In this week's Bad Science column, Ben Goldacre draws attention, as he does most weeks, to shoddy and hyped reporting of science news, including the current "men experience worse flu" story, which has nothing to do with flu (the pathogen tested causes food poisoning), may not be applicable to humans (tested in transgenic mice), and isn't as globally applicable as advertised. Scientific discovery gets mangled into headlines on a near-daily basis.

And in this case, there are even doubts as to the real meaning of this discovery - this article on Laelaps is fairly technical, but the consensus being reached is that the PR-heavy unveiling of Ida is ugly business. PZ Myers on Pharyngula describes it as Barnum-esque, and even to a total layman the comparison to the earth-shattering dates in the advert above seems totally absurd. For one thing, there is no single link between primates and the rest of the animal kingdom.

Ida is a significant fossil that should have been remembered for its incredible degree of preservation, and the energising effect it could have had on palaentology. Instead it could be remembered as a watershed event in our mangling of scientific coverage. Unfortunately, I fear it will be no more than a really great example - both as a primate fossil, and a hysterical headline.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News

The latest post at Bad Science has me creasing my brow. Not that that's unusual - Ben Goldacre's Guardian column (granted, I tend to read it 'second-hand' online) is pretty consistent but this week he makes a point about journalism in suicide cases that put me heavily in mind of the first episode of Charlie Brooker's new series Newswipe.

I've actually not been that huge a fan of Brooker - comedy's a hit and miss thing and I'm not hugely forgiving at the best of times. Charlie's heavily purile streak has been enough to put me off in the past - while Screenwipe certainly had its moments, it doesn't take a truly great wit to find humour in sub-par TV, so it often seemed a poor replacement for half-watching with a group of friends.

But there's a sickness in journalism that needs confronting: rife with spin and sensationalism, prizing production over content and self-obsessed to a ludicrous degree, it's already a much maligned profession and Brooker is in worthy territory here, cutting it down to size. His irreverent approach, relentless cynicism, and eye for a telling clip are actually a perfect combination (the editing in this program is really excellent, maybe the key to the whole shebang). This may be his true vocation.

There's a welcome appearance from the absurd resident poet Tim Key, and a segment explaining the convergence of PR and journalism. Spleens are well and truly vented. A brief section on re-branding the recession is a slight misfire, but Brooker's punchy treatment of stories in the news is great, and would seem right at home on Have I Got News For You.

And finally, the bit that puts me in mind of Goldacre (from about the 24 minute mark), which above all the rest I'd recommend watching. You'd struggle to claim that it's funny when Charlie picks up on the recent coverage of mass-shooting in Germany and contrasts the advised media coverage with the actuality. Like Goldacre's article, Newswipe highlights the callous disregard for 'the public interest' in a field where it should be most critical. There's a combination of malignancy and insanity there that has to be rooted out.

Of course, it's a dysfunction we can probably blame on no-one but ourselves. The irony would of course appeal to few people more than to that perennial misanthrope, Charlie Brooker.

Newswipe airs Wednesdays, 22:30 on BBC4. At time of writing, episode one was available on the BBC's iPlayer here, for a further 5 days.

Canada fails us

NEWS LINK WITH SHOCKING STORY

This would not even be a crime in a civilised country!

Tasty Genetics

The Chocolate Genome Project? That's science I can get behind.

Tasty tasty science

It makes a lot of sense. Two thoughts: 1) 5 years? To both sequence and 'analyse' a genome? They'll be lucky to get terribly valuable information that quickly, I should expect. 2) It may be completely through self-interest, but important groundwork being laid by a corporation isn't to be sniffed at. Valuable information could surely result.

End of the Line

Torrent fiends: get paranoid.

I find this a little off the mark:

"Concerns are myriad at this point, ranging from how authorities can prove their cases using the easily manipulated user data seized during the initial OiNK raid, to why the police are involved at all in what some have suggested is merely a matter that calls for civil action, to, of course, whether the arrests will continue-- and, if so, who will be next."

I can see why you'd be concerned, but c'mon, you use these sites and these systems for sharing music you have no real right to (I'll repeat that - music may be as free as the air and the birds in the trees, but musicians put the effort in and deserve to make a little back) and you always know if it catches up with you you have no real excuse.

Funnier is the concept of DNA samples and fingerprints being taken, I grant you. Although it's pretty egalitarian that some cardigan-clad pop nerd goes in the database alongside the serial rapist.

All I'll say, as someone who downloads a lot of music but equally buys a lot of CDs and goes to a lot of gigs, is it's impossible to get to grips with certain areas of music without delving into torrents and music blogs. Once you get into real experimental/avant territory you'll struggle to find new stuff you like on MTV2.
I know a lot of people who download albums online and some are good for music, others not so good. But that's describing people in general. On the whole it's an essential part of the progression of music as we know it.

Just don't complain when you get nicked.