You can rule out all positive results if you avoid all positive results

By: anciendaze:

With all the other events of this week, I haven't given those five papers the full scrutiny they deserve. I note that Prof. Racaniello made a serious error in his initial judgment on them, which was unfortunately reported by Trine Tsouderos as the end of XMRV. He has since retracted the quoted statement in a gracious way.

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Since one negative study used water as a negative control, and none of them took the extraordinary step of working in laboratory rooms never exposed to potential contaminants, I conclude the groups with positive results were more careful. Deniers appear to have relied on the rule of thumb that you can rule out all positive results due to contamination if you avoid all positive results. This is true, but hardly requires research.

I'm afraid people who accepted the conclusions reported by many parts of the press without reading the actual papers and checking statements will wake up next week to find they have bought a motorized tie rack. Read more>>