Aboard the Hype Train

Are you ready? ARE YOU READYYYYYYYY? In today's episode we talk about hype. Hype! HYPE!!! Scientific research often gets hyped - in press coverage and public outreach, as well as in scientists' communication with each other through journals and talks. Where does hype come from? What effects does it have? How far should we be willing to stray from the data? Are there times when it's okay to "play ball" with a journalist to tell a good story? Plus: a letter about dropping a co-author who's also a personal friend.

Links:

• The association between exaggeration in health related science news and academic press releases: retrospective observational study, by Sumner et al. (and press coverage in the Guardian)
• Constraints on Generality (COG): A Proposed Addition to All Empirical Papers by Simons et al.
• Newfoundland carries Pomeranian in bucket

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com, on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 29. It was recorded February 27, 2018.