Bad -- no pitiful -- science reporting

And, not surprisingly, AP is the culprit again. I suppose it's to be expected, given the number of such stories that come at the world's oldest, etc., wire service in a week. A fair amount come from state bureaus where the science-reporting bench is, shall we say, a bit thin.

Still, take a look at another wonderful dissection by FEV over at Headsuptheblog, augmented admirably by Mark Liberman at Language Log.

I just love it when FEV pounds nails in his head. Wish he'd send me a photo. But better, maybe pound some sense into the AP general desk editors who handle these things.

(Yeah, I know it's a week old. Told ya I was going to be playing catch-up these weeks. Status report: Two of three book chapters done, Hartsville Today questionnaire half done, monthly column done, grading 100 class assignments half done. Sleep -- what sleep?)