This past summer, yet another medical claim about coffee made instant news. This time a Finnish study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases followed 19,000 people over 15 years. The researchers found that among people who drank more than three cups a day, 0.5 percent got the disease, as opposed to only 0.2 percent of those who drank three cups a day or less. It would seem so, at first sip. Several agencies are moving in that direction.
Nothing is certain.
Anything may cause anything. Therefore, something must be done. And here is the heart of the matter. The sleepless sifting of a computer program, sorting, combining, suggesting associations all night long, is not always accompanied by an evaluative component to judge the patterns discerned. We should remind ourselves that while much of science depends upon coming up with good ideas, finding new patterns or connections, much of science depends at least as much on sorting and defeating bad ideas.