Originally Posted by
genejockey
One problem with using, as my wife says, "Dr. Google" as your medical advisor is that generally it finds articles in the popular press, and the popular press invariably overinterprets scientific studies, always looks for the most sensational ones, and then a bunch of articles come out all referring to ONE study, and often citing each other.
I have seen this a lot. If one weirdoid website gets a little traction with an article which mentions (and usually massively misunderstands and totally sensationalizes) some abstruse medical report, immediately two dozen other sites will write an almost identical article to capitalize on the google-based hist the first one received.
I have a had a person tell me, "I know it is right because I saw it on over a dozen websites," who refused to understand that it was a slight rewording (just enough to dodge plagiarism laws) of the same article ... and in some cases was exactly the same article (for instance when a news outlet shares a popular article with all its local affiliates across the nation.)
I have seen some amazing "overinterpretations" of studies done on fruit flies or brine shrimp, with headlines Like "People are more apt to die if they mate" and such.