Random Asides

  • word cloud pie charts

    Bad Chart Thursday: Scholarly Journal Edition

    This week’s bad chart comes from none other than the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Cell, in an article titled “Regulators of Gut Motility Revealed by a Gnotobiotic Model of Diet-Microbiome Interactions Related to Travel.” As you can see, the study involved mice playing a game of dietary musical chairs, followed by mincing a Bangladeshi child with a screen, then feeding the…

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  • Richard Dawkins Suffers Stroke

    According to the Sydney Opera House, where he was scheduled to speak soon, Richard Dawkins suffered a small stroke last Saturday. The statement they attribute to Dawkins’ management reads in full: On Saturday night Richard suffered a minor stroke, however he is expected in time to make a full or near full recovery. He is already at home recuperating. This unfortunately…

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  • Bad Chart Thursday: Leaving Facebook Makes You as Happy as a Cleanse Makes You Healthy

    Does Facebook contribute to unhappiness, an unsatisfying social life, and envy? The Danish Happiness Research Institute recently conducted an experiment to find out. This was clearly a rigorous and serious study as evidenced by how they chose to report the results: an infographic pdf–the Internet equivalent of a picture book. The presentation doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a bad…

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  • The 2015 #CyberMonday Skepchick and Mad Art Lab Gift Guide

    It’s my pleasure to present to you this year’s official Skepchick and Mad Art Lab Gift Guide! There are a lot of wonderful sciencey and geeky gift items out there in the world and it’s our aim to bring you a sampling of the best and coolest and quirkiest. We strive to feature businesses that are ethical and we urge…

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  • NHS deaths by day

    Bad Chart Thursday: NHS Weekend Death Trap of Doom and Death

    Terrifying news from the UK: You are more likely to die if admitted to the hospital on the weekend than on a weekday. This can only mean one thing–patients admitted on weekends are being locked in and forced to battle to the death. Kidding, kidding. Leaping to a single conclusion like that without evidence or consideration of multiple factors would…

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  • Bad Chart Thursday: Leaving Facebook Makes You as Happy as a Cleanse Makes You Healthy

    Does Facebook contribute to unhappiness, an unsatisfying social life, and envy? The Danish Happiness Research Institute recently conducted an experiment to find out. This was clearly a rigorous and serious study as evidenced by how they chose to report the results: an infographic pdf–the Internet equivalent of a picture book. The presentation doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a bad…

    Read More »
  • Bad Chart Thursday: Graphic Dump

    We’ve featured and created some truly terrible charts in this column, but some of the worst never make the cut. In most cases, these are charts that are awful in such obvious ways that there’s really not much to say about them. So I tuck them away in a miscellaneous folder in case I can find some use for them…

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  • Sugar equals immortality

    Throwback Bad Chart Thursday: Sugar Could Make Us Immortal

    Originally published on March 20, 2014. I was casually strolling about the Internet the other day, enjoying a hot fudge doughnut M&M sundae, as I am wont to do, when I came across some SHOCKING news about US sugar consumption: By 2606, the US Diet will be 100 Percent Sugar. My first thought was that this would be only a…

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