Old NID
69898
Casey Rentz takes that whole chicken-egg silliness (solved! say headlines) and gets to the meat of the issue in Which came first, the scientist or the sensationalist?
It isn't just pageview-whoring journalists and media companies, Casey notes, but researchers and PIOs at institutions as well.
Web publications want flashy news. Press officers want to glorify their own institution. Scientists want to attract new funding. It's a reinforced loop that can in some situations lead to the printing of truly questionable material, as the chicken and egg article so plainly illustrates.
As does she.
It isn't like we were immune, though Science Codex opted to stick with the 'computation of crystal formation in egg shells' part rather than the hype, which may be part of the reason that article only got about 150 reads.
