Aggregated News
Would you read a story if this was the headline: "New study raises questions about an experimental treatment that might not work and won't be ready for a long time."
That description would apply to most medical studies that make the news but would be unlikely to generate the clicks, taps, likes and shares that propel a story through cyberspace and social media.
What gets clicks? Words like "breakthrough," "groundbreaking," "game changer" and "lifesaver." And that's how much of medical news is described.
In one week last June, researchers counted 36 different cancer drugs being described using those superlatives.
But when they took a closer look at the actual drugs, half were not yet approved as safe and effective, and some hadn't even been tried on humans.
So, who's hyping the science? Everybody, it turns out.
Seeds of hype have been found in many of the press releases sent out by universities and research organizations.
And there's evidence of that hype being routinely amplified by reporters, scientists and scientific journals.
This hyper-optimism has been measured by examining the words scientists use when they write their research papers. Since the 1970s, the...