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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

You'll be disappointed to hear that, in reality, significant improvements in a scientific study don't necessarily mean significant life improvements [phys.org]. Nor do we know if the effects extend past the one-hour duration of the experiment. They sure won't make you an all-round genius anytime soon.

Almost every time we read about the latest scientific findings, they claim to be profound and life-changing. But they're often about isolated effects that have rarely been tested in real-world contexts.
...
Scientists are typically reserved with the claims they make about their research. In fact, if they're not, you should be worried [psychologicalscience.org].

They've often slaved away for many hours in the lab and know firsthand the limitations and pitfalls of their research. Many would be happy to sit inside their bubble of expertise and patiently continue building on knowledge that may one day lead to the betterment of humankind.

However, there is increasing pressure for scientists to prove their worth to society. This means finding, or creating [nih.gov], ways in which their research will "save the world", and then doing their best to communicate this in the hopes that their funding continues.

The pressure from a culture of "publish or perish" results in an increase in practices like "spinning [sciencedaily.com]" data, or dubious practices like "p-hacking [gizmodo.com]".

It's an oft-repeated meme on Soylent, so it's nice to see it echoed by others.

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