‘The Australian’ applauds bad science

Long ago, I decided to cease posting about the pitiful state of science reporting in the Murdoch media. The cases are just too numerous and they come too frequently. In any case, I think those who still give the Murdoch empire any credibility are pretty-well immune to the scientific form of inquiry.

But this one is a such a classic that I can’t remain silent.

Yesterday, The Australian carried a story from its incredibly misnamed “environment editor”, Graham Lloyd, that was based on the worst attempt at a scientific study I’ve seen. It purported to investigate “wind turbine syndrome”, yet used a sample size of six biased subjects, had no control group, and was not peer reviewed, among other shortcomings. Good enough for the front page at The Australian, though.

Jacqui Hoepner and Will J Grant have the full story at The Conversation.

Ketan Joshi has a detailed analysis of the study at Some Air.