The Worst and the Best

I've often written about how poorly written most science and health related stories are. The main problem is that the writers don't explain the basic science concepts being presented in the story. The second problem is that the story on the research is being shoe-horned to fit whatever editorial narrative of the moment. I hadn't seen such a bad example of both of these problems outside of the climate change narrative until this morning. Geologists have discovered cracks in the Atlantic ocean floor which, they believe, expose the Earth's mantle to the water.

Now, what could have been an interesting story on the current views of plate techtonics and how exposed mantle doesn't exactly fit that view, turned into the gutter tripe at the Reuter's link. Misleading headline? Check. Forcing the story to fit the "defies conventional theories" narrative? Check. Explaining those conventional theories? Wha-huh? Explaining the wrinkle in the theory the new data might introduce? Whazzatnow? Any ecological disasters there? Nope, but thanks for asking.

So, we have a story on an expedition to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and Reuters tried to fit the story to two current editorial narratives: scientific revolution and environmental threats. Just a little note to you journalism majors in the media - ALL basic science research tries to spark scientific revolution. The only thing I learned about the exposed mantle came from someone that's not even going: "'We know so little about it,' said Bramley Murton, a senior research scientist at Southampton's National Oceanography Center."

The expedition even had a cool new boat, but we couldn't be bothered with all that technical mumbo jumbo. We don't even know if they're going to make a documentary. They're going to the bottom of the frickin' ocean to look at the mantle! And all we get is some writer who poked around their website and made two phone calls. The worst science story I've seen all year, but the best at demonstrating the problems in science reporting at major media institiutions.

Update: Compare Reuters' gutter tripe with the AP version of the story. Much, much better. Descriptive headline? Check. Description of phenomenon? Check. Competing theories? Check. Mantle called "dark green rock?" Nice.