Crime Science Founded on a big Mistake

The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science (University College London) was launched on a faulty understanding of scientific principles. Then, after 7 years (and several academic citations of it) UCL deleted the paper containing the big mistake.

Read the dysology here.

Dysology

I coined the term Dysology (bad scholarship) last week and have set up a website named dysology.org to explore the usefulness of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to revealing and understanding the reasons for academic blind spots, bias, irrationality, lies, bullshit and myth mongering.

Braced Myths Wanted

In 2010 I discovered a problem that seems to have stemmed from orthodox experts engaging in unscholarly attempts to identify and bust myths. I discovered this problem while fact checking a most famous story of the impact of bad data on policy making.

I named the phenomenon the Braced Myth and defined it as precisely as I could.

Note: Braced Myths are started by orthodox experts and are then braced by orthodox expert sceptics who - by way of their own scholarship - think they are true and so use them, with painful irony, as examples of the need to be healthily sceptical.

Are you aware of a case where orthodox experts have created myths, fallacies, pseudo scholarship or other junk science that has then been believed by experts who, with unintentional irony, in turn, used it as an example to support the need to be sceptical of 'bad science', pseudo scholarship and other counterknowledge? As you can see, what I am looking for has three very specific components (1) the creation of a fallacy, myth or error by an orthodox expert and (2) it being used by another expert who in turn promotes it as being ‘true’ and (3) promotes it as a good example of the need to be healthily sceptical of that which is not so.

I suspect that braced myths are likely to be quite rare. But once found, each one will most certainly be a case of the most exquisite irony.

To date, I have found two examples where this has happened, which it led me to name them Braced Myths:

In 2011 I found my second braced myths. Both are in criminology.

What is the Social Significance of Braced Myths?

To seek to gauge the social significance of Braced Myths I am looking for further examples from any field of knowledge.

I would be most grateful if anyone could kindly let me know of any others. Email: drmikesutton@hotmail.com

The Problem of Zombie Cops in Voodoo Criminology: A Criminological Braced Myth about Beat Patrol Policing is Busted

My recently updated and more detailed article entitled: The Problem of Zombie Cops in Voodoo Criminology can be found on the peer-to-peer Best Thinking site.

I recommend such web sites to anyone wishing to assert the provenance of their ideas prior to presenting them at conferences and in peer-reviewed publications.

Always remember when creating zombies in voodoo criminology: What you don't know can eat you!

Note: The Zombie Cop picture shown here was commissioned by me from the artist Marcus Jones. (Copyright Dr Mike Sutton: Not to be used without my express written permission). Marcus can be contacted via his online gallery website http://marcusjones.daportfolio.com/

Mike

Spinach Iron Decimal Point Error Myth Busted

The popular 32 year old myth that a misplaced decimal point in the published results of the iron content of spinach by Professor von Wolff, or else von Bunge, in the 19th century influenced scientists in the 20th century to fail to check the facts and to simply recommend spinach for its over-inflated iron content is finally busted.

Having spent several months of my spare time in 2010 researching turn of the 20th century German biochemistry journals and books on nutrition, I can reveal that several scientists, all working completely independently, came to very similar conclusions. The reason for their exaggerated measurement of the iron content of spinach, and other food, is bad science. They were, amongst several other things, contaminating the spinach in the laboratory with the vessels they used and the charcoal they used to heat it.

The bad science mistake was in fact (contrary to the nonsense contained in the myth) spotted by von Bunge in the 19th century and the fact that such errors occurred was disseminated widely by US Professor Sherman in the early 20th century.

The Spinach, Popeye, Iron, Decimal Error Story (SPIDES) is a myth that was ironically perpetrated by the famous myth busting nutritionist Professor Arnold E. Bender in his inaugural lecture at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London. Arnold E. Bender. Bender first mentioned it in that inaugural lecture in 1972 (Bender 1972) and later in an article in the Spectator (Bender 1977). In the Spectator, Bender started the myth when he claimed that a German textbook on nutrition (Noorden and Salomon 1920; 476) replicated an earlier decimal point data mistake made by generations of textbooks that unquestioningly replicated erroneous data first published in 1870 by the German scientist E. von Wolff:

For a hundred years or more spinach has been (and clearly still is) renowned for its high iron content compared with that of other vegetables, but to the joy of those who dislike the stuff this is quite untrue. In 1870 Dr E. von Wolff published the analyses of a number of foods, including spinach which was shown to be exceptionally rich in iron. The figures were repeated in succeeding generations of textbooks – after all one does not always verify the findings of others – including the ‘Handbook of Food Sciences’ (Handbuch der Ernahrungslehre) by von Noorden and Saloman[1] 1920.

In 1937 Professor Schupan eventually repeated the analyses of spinach and found that it contained no more iron than did any other leafy vegetable, only one-tenth of the amount previously reported. The fame of spinach appears to have been based on a misplaced decimal point.”

 Bender's myth was popularized as being true by Professor Terry Hamblin in the British Medical Journal in 1981 - perversely in an upbeat Christmas article entitled "Fake" about fake academic research. Furthermore, Popeye never ate spinach for iron, his creator E. C. Segar made it the source of his superhero's strength due to its vitamin A (beta carotene) content.

Here is Hamblin's (1981) new-spin dissemination of Bender's original spinach myth:

 “A statue of Popeye in Crystal City, Texas, commemorates the fact that single handedly he raised the consumption of Spinach by 33%. America was “strong to the finish ‘cos they ate their spinach” and duly defeated the Hun. Unfortunately the propaganda was fraudulent; German chemists reinvestigating the iron content of Spinach had shown in the 1930s that the original workers had put the decimal point in the wrong place and made a tenfold overestimate of its value. Spinach is no better for you than cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or broccoli. For a better source of iron Popeye would have been better off chewing the cans.”

So Hamblin, an orthodox expert, appears to be the first to brace the spinach myth because he did not check the facts behind it. Hamblin has been followed by many orthodox experts all believing the myth to be true and so, with excruciatingly unintended irony, using it as an example of the need to be sceptical of research findings and to check your facts. If ever that old saying "hoisted by your own petard" is very applicable then it is here.

Time Line for Spinach Popeye Iron Decimal Error Myth Busting

• 1871 Von Wolff’s bad science exaggerated spinach iron content
• 1892 - Switzerland - the German Von Bunge gets it right
• 1907 - USA - Sherman explains 19th Century bad science
• 1920 - Germany - Noorden & Salomon still citing old German bad science
• 1972 - UK - Bender publishes spinach Popeye iron decimal error myth
• 1981 - UK - Hamblin braces Bender’s myth
• 2010 - UK Sutton proves Popeye ate spinach for vitamin A and never for iron
• 2010 - UK Sutton busts spinach iron decimal error myth - Proving that many German chemists had it wrong in the 1920's, whilst at least one German and several American scientists had it right. Later, it is possible that Popeye movies and comic strips might have accidentally confused the public about spinach being a good source of iron.
• 2011 - UK Sutton shows that US spinach production did indeed increase by 33 per cent in 1936

My essays on this topic

The full Spinach Decimal Error myth busting story can be read here: http://www.bestthinking.com/articles/science/chemistry/biochemistry/the-spinach-popeye-iron-decimal-error-myth-is-finally-busted

1, The USDA is spreading dangerous 'bull' on the Internet. Here: http://www.bestthinking.com/articles/science/chemistry/biochemistry/spin-ge-usa-beware-of-the-bull-the-united-states-department-of-agriculture-is-spreading-bull-about-spinach-iron-and-vitamin-c-on-the-internet

2, Does current USDA erroneous nutrition advice have its roots in a perverse scientific paper written in 1937? Here: http://www.bestthinking.com/articles/science/chemistry/biochemistry/spin-ge-ii-does-the-united-states-department-of-agriculture-s-publication-of-spuriofacts-have-its-origins-in-a-perverse-scientific-paper-written-in-1937-

3. Popeye's creator chose spinach for its vitamin A content (beta carotene), never for iron. The start of the spinach myth busting. Here: http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Sutton_Spinach_Iron_and_Popeye_March_2010.pdf

On Hamblin

Professor Hamblin sadly passed away on January 8th 2012.    As a immunohematologist, Hamblin was a notable and highly respected and regarded researcher and teacher. He is particularly notable as an early pioneer of stem cell treatment for cancer. He made a difference by making the world a better place.

30 Year Old Braced Supermyth is Busted

My research into 19th and early 20th century biochemistry led me to finally bust the 30 year old myth regarding a misplaced decimal point influencing scientists to erroneously promote spinach consumption for its iron content.

You can read the results of the research here (click) on the BestThinking website:

The Spinach, Popeye, Iron, Decimal Error Myth is Finally Busted
Article by Mike Sutton

Braced Myth Theory and the Self Defeating Prophecy Paradox. Mythbusting Problematized: The Problem of Zombie Cops in Voodoo Criminology

In the past few years a growing number of popular science and other non-fiction books seek to bust myths and conspiracy theories and encourage the public to be more healthily sceptical of news reporting. An underlying aim of these books seems also to be to help provide us with the necessary insight to spot dubious claims and research their veracity for ourselves. This is to be applauded, but does this movement present us with any risks?

The Self-Defeating Prophecy

I hypothesise that the growth of the informed healthy skeptic movement increases the risk of the literature on this subject creating braced myths. And braced myths may well prove more likely to become orthodox authority, that is in turn particularly difficult to debunk, because it is more socially entrenched. Braced myths are - for want of a better word - supermyths.

This hypothesis could be described as a self-defeating prophecy, which is the opposite of Robert Merton' s self-fulfilling prophecy. Because, by warning respected healthy sceptical authorities of the dangers of being hoisted by their own petards, I might diminish the chances of my hypothesis being supported by future evidence.

An example of a braced myth in criminology, which has had a major impact on policing and related policy making, is the Zombie Cop Model