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posted by janrinok on Saturday May 26 2018, @02:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the people-who-know-what-they-are-talking-about dept.

On March 27, 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly rode a rocket to the International Space Station. Waving up at him from Earth was Mark Kelly, his mustachioed twin brother. While they were 400 vertical kilometres apart, NASA scientists studied how the human body reacts to the stresses of long-term space travel. Scott was the test subject; Mark served as the control. Over the course of the one-year mission, NASA extensively examined the twins' physiology, gut bacteria and even their genetic code – sure enough, NASA saw the toll of space stress on Scott.

However, NASA's sloppy wording of their findings, followed by reporting from a non-critical media, beamed the research into the realm of science fiction. "Space travel changes our genes" said one news report in March. "NASA astronaut's DNA no longer matches his twin" reported another.

These articles quoted NASA's January 2018 report which stated Scott's genetic code differed from Mark's by 7 per cent. That's not just an improbably claim – it's an impossible one, with identical twins. In anyone, twin or sibling or unrelated human, a 7-per-cent change in genetic code would mutate that person into something not human-like. "What NASA meant by genetic code was, in fact, gene expression," Smith said. "If only the journalists had quoted scientists, this incident of fake science could have been averted."

So what is the difference between genetic code and gene expression? Your genetic code is a blueprint for your body's functioning. The cells in your liver and heart contain the same code. Yet, these cells differ in their functioning because of differences in the deployment – the active expression – of the cell's genetic code. "If every gene in your cells were being actively expressed, your kidneys would be growing eyes," Smith joked.

[...] With manned missions costing taxpayers millions of dollars, the public trusts NASA. That two-way channel of trust is mediated by journalists. Scientists who convey the information in the first place need to make sure their data is sound – and their communication about it, clear.

Phys.org

[Source]: University of Western Ontario

This is an interesting take on "fake news". Do you think that scientists don't do enough to convey news accurately? Or, is the media to blame for bad/sensational reporting?


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  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday May 27 2018, @10:43AM

    by driverless (4770) on Sunday May 27 2018, @10:43AM (#684803)

    I don't know about news in general, but for science news a good rule of thumb is that once it hits the mainstream media, whatever the original story was has been mangled into gibberish. Single Eve Hypothesis, Mozart Effect, there's endless, endless examples. The problem is that most science stories aren't that interesting to non-scientists, a new hypothesis on the origins of X that needs further research, a 2% improvement in efficiency when doing Y, etc. That's not news. What is news is a misinterpretation of some universities' press office trying to talk up the research. So it's a catch-22, anything significant enough to become mainstream newsworthy is the original research mangled beyond recognition. That's why, for any new breakthrough or clickbait science story reported in the mainstream media, if I don't just ignore it I'll try and find the original publication that presented the work. Which is often nearly impossible, because few journalists would ever dream of providing any reference to the publication they're busy misinterpreting.

    One general exception to this is the Grauniad. They actually employ science journalists who know science. Wow.

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