Yup. It also bears emphasizing that the main mechanisms of toxo infection in the US are uncooked meat and outdoor activities like gardening, not household cats. I would wager if we rooted around in the research there would be studies showing that cat ownership increases exposure, but that wasn’t a factor in either of…

Bueno-ish. There are some animal studies that suggest a causative relationship (though not with schizophrenia, obviously, becuase as far as we know mice don’t get that particularly mental disorder). To my knowledge, there are no such causative studies in humans (nor will there be, I suspect — research ethics being…

Researchers didn’t notice a shift in how the risk factors changed as divorce became less taboo — it stayed pretty constant over the years. What you’re saying is logical (and what many expected) but didn’t quite pan out. That said, there’s a big difference between being alive during shifting perceptions and just being…

There definitely is. A study earlier this year suggested that loneliness poses a major health concern and should be evaluated by health care workers (sorry, I don’t have the link on me). What was surprising about this study is that it contradicted that a bit — if it was simply about loneliness, the trend would have…

Can I just say that I got a huge kick out of randomly seeing this in the Jezebel comment section? I'm sure I should be stoic about that but I read the site and literally shrieked "That's my tweet!" when I saw this.

Not at all, the wording was unclear. Thanks for pointing it out — should be fixed now.

I don't have access to edit the post but I sent an email about it. It hadn't occurred to me that it was unclear until I saw the comment but you're both right.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I tried for 45 minutes to find a way to slide that in to the paper that didn't make it obvious that I was only doing it because her name is Horney. Trust me, that was not missed. Blood, sweat, and tears over this and still no success.

Sorry, those were actually my names for the archetypes. The study loses its professional veneer for a host of other reasons, but the word minx is not one of them. "Juicy apple" was all him though.

I'm genuinely embarrassed that I let slip such an obvious opportunity for a Captain Planet reference.

That does make it more ridiculous, I didn't make the connection (it's been a very long time since I've worked with flies of any variety). I guess we can't expect news sites to report on century old research so as soon as a new revelation came out it was time to dust off the old theories? Maybe that's why so many of…

I'm insectist, what can I say? I struggle with it almost daily.

I don't know if I'd use the term permanent science writer, but I will be a science writer on Jezebel. Without mincing words, I'm a long time reader clamoring for science coverage along with you, so I'm delighted with the opportunity to contribute.

I would be curious to hear the perspective of researchers whose work has gone unexpectedly viral in this manner. You get press on a study that would usually be for a very niche market, so I imagine it's exciting on some level to have your name everywhere. On the flip side, you're a scientist and they've just…

I actually haven't been told anything about that policy. In this case, I don't have control over the post so I couldn't edit it. If I can, I will correct posts with clear indications where. I'm not infallible and there are a lot of very smart people in the commentariat (and, in this instance, on twitter). I hope…

Those are great suggestions. Especially with flu season, something on germs - most importantly the fact that you don't get antibiotics for viruses - would be a solid choice. Thanks!

I hope to be able to point out particularly egregious examples of science in the media gone wrong but I'm not sure I can pull off a weekly round up. Ideally when big studies come out that are just completely botched by the media we can clear some stuff up here.

That's brilliant, thanks for linking it. That breakdown is pitch perfect.

Nope! Just an example of my being susceptible to the media even when debunking the media. It was pointed out on twitter but I figured I'd clear it up here as well.

in a gloriously ironic error considering the subject matter, I incorrectly referred to Telostylinus angusticollis as fruit flies. They are neriid flies. I could lie and say I was just trying to reinforce my point with a misleading headline but, in reality, I just read the term fruit flies so many times in the…