The Field Guide

How to read science news

Short, plain explainers for the words and warning signs that decide how much a study is really worth. One page each, so you can tell a real breakthrough from a hopeful headline.

01 Clinical trial phases Phase 1 tests whether a drug is safe, phase 2 tests whether it works, and phase 3 confirms both in a large group before approval.
02 Animal model translation A result in mice is an early clue, not a cure, because most treatments that work in animals never work in people.
03 Effect size Effect size measures how big a difference is, which is the question that decides whether a real result actually matters in your life.
04 Relative and absolute risk A "50% risk cut" is relative; the absolute change can be tiny, so always ask what the risk went from and to in real numbers.
05 Preprint and peer review A preprint is a study posted before independent experts have vetted it, while peer review is that vetting step, so preprints deserve extra caution.
06 Correlation and causation Two things happening together does not prove one causes the other, so "linked to" headlines rarely establish cause and effect.
07 Reproducibility and replicability A finding earns trust when other scientists can repeat it, so one study is a data point, not a settled conclusion.
08 P-value A p-value measures how surprising the data would be if there were no real effect, not the probability that a finding is true.
09 Confidence interval A confidence interval is the plausible range around a result, which tells you how precise, or shaky, that single reported number really is.
10 Randomized and observational studies A randomized trial assigns people to groups to test cause, while an observational study only watches, which is why trials give stronger evidence.

Every quoted line is verbatim from the source linked on its page. The explanations are ours, written plainly, so you can read a study for what it is worth without a statistics degree.

The best filter is a daily habit.