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The Bachmann Files: Don't Let the Facts Stand in the Way of Incendiary Politics

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


The Rooster Syndrome holds that the bird's crowing makes the sun edge up over the horizon. Beware post hoc ergo propter hoc, wail the logicians.

People's brains are hard-wired for error, finding mental connections everywhere that none exist (e.g. "I slipped after I stepped on that crack in the sidewalk"). Sometimes these false beliefs spread like pathogens. Toxoplasmosis, no. Madness of crowds, si. Typically, evolutionary theory bursts forth as explanation: better safe than sorry on the Paleolithic savannahs.

Of course, the best example of contagion is the vaccine and autism scare, a fear repeatedly disproved by the science. This week we saw an example of elevating this meme of erroneous memes—vaccines insert an evil incubus into mind and body—to unparalleled new heights. Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann put forth what she said was the case of a woman who had told her that her child had become mentally retarded after being vaccinated for human papillomavirus. "It can have very dangerous side effects," she said on NBC's Today. "This is the very real concern, and people have to draw their own conclusions."


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The thing about Gardasil, the most common HPV vaccine in question, is that, as a bioactive molecule, it is remarkably safe. Forget retardation and consider, for a moment, the Grim Reaper. As of mid-June, there had been 32 ascertained deaths among those who received Gardasil. That's 32 following distribution of 35 million doses of the vaccine. Let’s keep our post hocs straight, though, and consult the CDC: "In the 32 reports confirmed, there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine and some reports indicated a cause of death unrelated to vaccination."

The 2012 presidential campaign has started early. We shouldn’t let our error-prone crania prevail. When it’s all over next year, better that science should not turn out as the big loser.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Gary Stix, Scientific American's neuroscience and psychology editor, commissions, edits and reports on emerging advances and technologies that have propelled brain science to the forefront of the biological sciences. Developments chronicled in dozens of cover stories, feature articles and news stories, document groundbreaking neuroimaging techniques that reveal what happens in the brain while you are immersed in thought; the arrival of brain implants that alleviate mood disorders like depression; lab-made brains; psychological resilience; meditation; the intricacies of sleep; the new era for psychedelic drugs and artificial intelligence and growing insights leading to an understanding of our conscious selves. Before taking over the neuroscience beat, Stix, as Scientific American's special projects editor, oversaw the magazine's annual single-topic special issues, conceiving of and producing issues on Einstein, Darwin, climate change, nanotechnology and the nature of time. The issue he edited on time won a National Magazine Award. Besides mind and brain coverage, Stix has edited or written cover stories on Wall Street quants, building the world's tallest building, Olympic training methods, molecular electronics, what makes us human and the things you should and should not eat. Stix started a monthly column, Working Knowledge, that gave the reader a peek at the design and function of common technologies, from polygraph machines to Velcro. It eventually became the magazine's Graphic Science column. He also initiated a column on patents and intellectual property and another on the genesis of the ingenious ideas underlying new technologies in fields like electronics and biotechnology. Stix is the author with his wife, Miriam Lacob, of a technology primer called Who Gives a Gigabyte: A Survival Guide to the Technologically Perplexed (John Wiley & Sons, 1999).

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