Confusion and Criticism Over ENCODE's Claims 34
As_I_Please writes "In response to the previous report of the ENCODE project discovering 'biochemical functions for 80 percent of the genome,' many scientists have questioned what was meant by 'function.' Ars Technica Science Editor John Timmer wrote an article calling ENCODE's definition of functionality 'broad to the point of being meaningless. At worst, it was actively misleading.' Nature magazine also has a followup discussing the ambiguity surrounding the 80% figure and claims about junk DNA."
I used to care about science journalism (Score:5, Insightful)
...and then climate change happened.
Since then I just started reading abstracts/papers rather than the journalism. It takes a little longer, but at least I'm not being misled by some self-aggrandizing social-science major who chose his degree poorly and is now trying to just pump out stories in time for the weekend.
/yes, I'm bitter. But seriously, screw science reporters.