Sources and Further Reading

Science for Life aims to give you all you'll need, but sometimes it is interesting to explore in more depth. Here are some recommended sources and books to get extra information.
  • Bad Science - Dr Ben Goldacre looks at the ways that science is misused to make inappropriate health claims for products.
  • Cochrane Collaboration - The world's leading source of information on the combined results of evidence-based studies in medicine. It is quite academic in approach, but is usually the definitive source on whether or not current studies demonstrate what is claimed.
  • NHS Choices - An excellent website from the UK's National Health Service which has a lot of detail about scientific trials in medicine that have been highlighted in the news. Explains exactly what the trials did and what they really mean. Also plenty of general health advice. Only limitation is that because it is so big, it takes a while for changes in advice, such as the updated information on saturated fats to percolate through the whole system.
  • The First 20 Minutes - A valuable guide to the science of exercise, both in practical terms and also in exploring which aspects of exercise and fitness have been subject to proper scientific analysis.
  • Trick or Treatment - Fascinating book by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, detailing all the best scientific evidence at the time of writing on alternative medicine.



1 comment:

  1. Brian's comment in "Science For Life", "WINE" page 399, doing a blind-tasting test would only work on USA wines that are chemically altered to always taste the same. In France, choose your wine by appelation (most of us do this), then by wine-maker (they all weave a different magic), and finally by year (as only nature can control the degree of rain, sun and wind). I agree with Brian about sparkling Saumur instead of champagne, I live close to Saumur.

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