Insight 1: There is a lot of nonsense in the public domain.

The press love to sensationalise advances in science. This seems especially true when it comes to how we learn. The newspaper version of the story is usually way beyond the scope of the scientists' claims.

The problem is the public read these stories and assume them to be true. We then have to spend a lot of time and energy debunking.

Learning Styles - I'm looking at you!

Insight 2: You must dig into the detail.

This changed everything for me—for 3 reasons:

- Scientists usually hedge their conclusions. You need to understand what they are hedging against and why.

- Sometimes research doesn't stand up to scrutiny - even in peer-reviewed research.

- Reproducibility of research is important. If nobody has reproduced the results, the research might not be applicable elsewhere.

Accepting scientific results without question leads to embarrassing retractions further down the line.

Insight 3: The science doesn't "prove" anything.

Finally, the insight that the science doesn't "prove" anything was the most surprising.

Here's why the science doesn't "prove" anything.

- Science is not that definitive.

- Scientists use phrases like "the research supports" when drawing conclusions.

- Research papers suggest other areas of research to test the conclusions further.

So, while the science doesn't "prove" anything, the evidence *supports* an idea.

Next time a sensational scientific claim catches your eye, scrutinise the evidence. What lies beneath might surprise you.

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