3 ms·
Studies like this have a simple formula: Find a correlation. Make up a cause. Pretend the correlation implies that cause, when in fact they have found absolu
by curi 19y ago
Studies like this have a simple formula:
Find a correlation.
Make up a cause.
Pretend the correlation implies that cause, when in fact they have found absolutely zero evidence whatsoever of their conclusion.
Get published.
- amichail 19y agoHave you read their paper?
- curi 19y agoNo. It requires registration and is unclear on whether I will have to pay to read it. I have read many other papers. Have you read it? Is the linked article misleading and it's actually good?
- henning 19y agoHere's the abstract: Upper-body fat has negative effects and lower-body fat has positive effects on the supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for neurodevelopment. Thus, waist-hip ratio (WHR), a useful proxy for the ratio of upper-body fat to lower-body fat, should predict cognitive ability in women and their offspring. Moreover, because teenage mothers and their children compete for these resources, their cognitive development should be compromised, but less so for mothers with lower WHRs. These predictions are supported by data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Controlling for other correlates of cognitive ability, women with lower WHRs and their children have significantly higher cognitive test scores, and teenage mothers with lower WHRs and their children are protected from cognitive decrements associated with teen births. These findings support the idea that WHR reflects the availability of neurodevelopmental resources and thus offer a new explanation for men's preference for low WHR.
- curi 19y agoYeah I saw that. I don't think we can tell much from it. Do you think it's revealing?
- curi 19y agoThis thread is a good example of why I don't usually comment on YC. People don't take the discussions seriously enough. They ask a question and don't followup. It's not worth explaining things carefully here.
- trekker7 19y agoI read good explanations... so please keep posting 'em
- akkartik 19y agoWeb forums need better notification when someone responds to you. And each site has to reinvent the wheel. I remember people asked for this for months on reddit before it got the little envelope icon. It's just too bad.
- tel 19y agoIt doesn't seem like they show evidence for anything more than significant correlation. Other theories (like birth trauma reduction) could explain it just as well.