Speculation on odd correlations is not meant to be conclusory, but to spur thought on mechanisms, alternative explanations, and possible investigations. Almost

Speculation on odd correlations is not meant to be conclusory, but to spur thought on mechanisms, alternative explanations, and possible investigations. Almost all correlations are complete crap. 99.9% of people who read Slate have neither the expertise nor the resources needed to spur investigations. Most of their readers are people who are ignorant of science and who will get falsely believe that articles like this constitute real science; they'll totally gloss over the tiny proviso at the end about correlation not being causation and the tiny bit about how Taxo actually harms reaction time. For most readers, this article will actively miseducate them. How can making your readership dumber possibly be a good thing? Don't we have enough stupidity in our world already? What if this speculation prompts a study of soccer players, and finds that compared to their countrymen and controlling for other observable factors, pro players are more likely to show toxo infection? What if I spontaneously turn into a dragon that lays golden eggs? What then? If you can find a few cases where real research that wouldn't have otherwise happened resulted from Slate publishing some crappy anti-science article like this that did nothing but note some weird correlation and speculate about it, then I'll concede that you have a point. That should be easy, right? highlighting the strangeness of the possibility raises awareness of this parasite, which I view as a positive thing. I don't. Taxo infection is interesting in a "wow, that's cool" sort of way, but it should not be a priority for medical research or public health interventions. We actually know quite a bit about how to improve public health globally and combating Taxo infections is not how you do it. Spending public health funds or devoting public awareness campaigns to Taxo infections is a huge waste: it would mean sacrificing lives for our own amusement. Public health is mostly about boring staid dull things, not cool neat awesome things.