No causation is being suggested in the headline. Also, reciting this as a mantra ignores the fact that correlation correlates well with causation. (Since causa

No causation is being suggested in the headline. Also, reciting this as a mantra ignores the fact that correlation correlates well with causation. (Since causation implies correlation). Basically, correlations need investigating and explanation. They can arise by chance, but the likelihood of that can be derived from the data (sample size, control for bias etc). If they don't arise by chance, then there's likely to be "something going on". The fun part is working out what, but in general you start from a correlation, produce a testable hypothesis and test it.