Most observational studies can’t separate correlation from causation, but one of my favorite Freakonomics episodes ever is about an observational study that used time zone boundaries as a natural experiment to estimate the causal effect of sleep on earnings. First, they note prior research that found a negative correlation between sleep and wages attributed to … Continue reading Always Be Sleeping

In this post, I’ll attempt to calculate the correlation between consuming two alcoholic drinks per day and total mortality based on the recent paper that claimed any level of drinking is unsafe. Their main result was a dose response curve where the “response” was diagnosis with any one of 28 conditions that have been found … Continue reading 2,335 Pages of SI Say Moderate Drinking In America Is Safe

Barely two months after extolling the benefits of sunscreen, I have a sunburn. Do as I say, not as I do. In light of this sunburn, I’ll be interrupting my planned next post on alcohol to look into effective sunburn treatments. Sunburn pain is more thoroughly researched than I expected because it’s used as a … Continue reading Sunburned for Science

A new study of alcohol consumption has gotten a lot of headlines claiming moderate drinking, net net, is harmful. In this post I’ll try to parse through some more precise claims about what the paper does and doesn’t show. The paper has hundreds of pages of appendices and lots of details you’d normally find in … Continue reading No, Moderate Drinking Won’t Give You TB

I spent six years studying the statistical mechanics of supercooled fluids and electrolyte solutions. Alas, my highbrow research was insufficient to net me a faculty position at a top university. A man by the name of Mark Tarnopolsky found a more successful route. In the study of his that caught my eye (via The New … Continue reading Exercise Is Good For Your Butt-Skin

A May 2016 paper in in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the BMI correlated with lowest levels of all-cause mortality is approximately 27, a level traditionally defined as overweight. The simple inference that being overweight protects people from death is a prime example of confounding variables. Just two months later, a … Continue reading Optimal BMI

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health wrote a paper evaluating the accuracy of iOS app decibel meters. They found that the best ones match professional decibel meters within about 2 decibels. After doing all that evaluating, NIOSH made their own app that's also within 2 decibels of professional decibel meters and will tell … Continue reading Field Research: BART Probably Won’t Destroy Your Hearing