Why we need to truly understand the medical literature.

摘要

During the past century, extraordinary scientific breakthroughs have transformed the ways in which we control our fertility, harness energy, protect ourselves against disease and much more. In the United States especially, we have long depended upon science and technology to improve our lives. Yet, despite major scientific advances and our society's strong reliance upon them, the integrity of science itself has taken a beating in recent years. Ideally, science should advance as new results call previously held assumptions into question; yet all too often, we have seen inconvenient data attacked, misinterpreted or even suppressed in the service of ideology or fatter profits . Furthermore, in many or even most modern cases, individuals out to undermine established scientific findings speak in the language of "science," citing unconfirmed studies and weak data to support their conclusions.