Category Archives: PR Guy

Flacks exaggerate importance of medical research

Posted on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by Greg

I missed this earlier and, at the risk of getting myself into trouble, I’d like to say a few words. Ben Goldacre in The Guardian turned his eye toward a recent study about the quality of press releases from major … Continue reading →

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Man, these viral movie promotions are going too far…

Posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 by Greg

Robot attacked Swedish factory worker – The Local. The incident took place in June 2007 at a factory in Bålsta, north of Stockholm, when the industrial worker was trying to carry out maintenance on a defective machine generally used to … Continue reading →

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Fruitflies like the wind, time flies like a banana…

Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 by Greg

Stop. Wait, reverse that. OK… Another neat Eurekalert! feed story, one that offers tips for catching flies: Caltech scientists discover mechanism for wind detection in fruit flies Tiny, lightweight fruit flies need to know when it’s windy out so they … Continue reading →

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Two Studies on Vitamin D and Adolescents…take them together? (with a little water)

Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 by Greg

Below are two items I just gleaned from my Eurekalert! RSS feed, and they seem to fit together nicely: 1) One in seven US teens is vitamin D deficient One in seven American adolescents is vitamin D deficient, according to … Continue reading →

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And Louie, Louie Gets Me Hot Just Thinking about It

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 by Greg

Interesting press release in my morning Eurekalert! feed In an article published in the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to … Continue reading →

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Eggs are awesome, says new scientific report from the egg board

Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by Greg

Okay, its published in an actual journal — here’s the press release on Eurekalert! — and they do provide handy references to their claims…but it doesn’t mean I don’t think their enthusiasm is a little suspicious… A research review published … Continue reading →

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Hyping the holographic universe

Posted on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 by Greg

I write press releases for a living, I’m afraid. And, over the last decade, I figure I must have written nearly 1,000 of them (if you count tipsheets, which I am for the purpose of generating a nice round number). … Continue reading →

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What couldn’t giant rockets revolutionize?

Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 by Greg

Giant Rockets Could Revolutionize Astronomy, is the headline of a NASA press release (check the link, if you don’t believe me, I wouldn’t lie about this) to which my inner, early-morning snarkbot says “well, duh.” Giant rockets could revolutionize lots … Continue reading →

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This would be great for teeny, tiny superheroes

Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2009 by Greg

In a recent Nature paper, Harvard engineers describe how to levitate microscopic objects using the Casimir effect. Of course, if you read the headline to the Tech Herald piece (first link), you’d think they’ve already done it. Need to find … Continue reading →

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A Very Necessary Primer on How to Read Health Science Studies Or, at Least, Reports On Health Science Studies

Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 by Greg

…in the New York Times today. I like the lede here, comparing how scientists view their own research versus, oh, say, Frankie Avalon shilling for vitamin supplements: Then came three large, rigorous clinical trials that randomly assigned people to take … Continue reading →

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