A Grain of Salt

Once upon a time, I worked at a company that distributed Neuroscience and Psychology stories weekly in a newsletter. I was responsible for reviewing the stories -- both the original press releases and the mainstream articles -- and choosing which ones to add.

A few lessons I learned:

• The original psychology research usually has a relatively small sample size
• The study pool is frequently psychology undergraduates (see here for why that's a problem)
• The mainstream press typically:
• does not understand the research
• has a sexist bias
• has a sensationalist bias

So...  when an article on new research inspires a sparkling marketing idea, it's worthwhile to look up the original research (or at least the original press release). And, as with any scientific finding, one paper doesn't prove it's true.