Whose Celebs Are Stupider About Science, America or Britain?

British celebrities are finally learning not to mess with scientific facts. But famous Americans are making more mistakes and questionable claims.Sense About Science, the educational charity, on Saturday releases its third annual audit of what celebrities have said about science and health. For the second year running “UK celebs have improved and are taking more care when discussing science and medicine”, it concludes – although some still make dubious pseudo-scientific claims, particularly about detox diets.
Carole Caplin, lifestyle guru, has featured in all three reports. This year she is criticised for condemning an extensive medical study that found antioxidant vitamin supplements did not reduce mortality.
“It must be obvious to everyone ... that this review is absolute rubbish, it contains fundamental flaws,” Ms Caplin said. “It is only common sense that our bodies need regular supplies of essential nutrients for growth and maintenance.”
Responding for Sense About Science, Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, says: “This was a thorough, independent, transparent and systematic review of every trial ever performed on these vitamin pills.”?Kelly Osbourne is criticised for making two mistakes when talking about her mother Sharon’s cancer: “Because of her history of colon cancer [Sharon] is absolutely convinced the Pill caused the disease. I don’t have a microwave in my house for the same reason.”
Sense About Science points out that, far from causing colon cancer, taking the contraceptive pill halves a woman’s risk of developing it – and that there is no evidence that microwave cookers cause cancer.
But most of the questionable statements in the report come from Americans, led by Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, who said in a campaign speech about wasteful government spending: “Sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.”In response, Ellen Solomon, genetics professor at King’s College London, says: “It might sound strange to research fruit flies but they are one of the major tools in our understanding of genes, and therefore biology. They have been used internationally for more than a century to understand how genes work.”This year Mariah Carey called her album “E=mc²”, after Einstein’s famous formula. Her interpretation was “emancipation equals Mariah Carey times two”.David Leslie, Bristol University mathematician, responded: “Unfortunately, Mariah has misread the algebra. The two in the equation means c squared, not mc multiplied by two.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24033046-d369-11dd-989e-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

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