http://www.livescience.com/health/080829-happy-thoughts.html

This is from a blog (but a reputable one) so I wasn't sure if it would make the RSS feed. It does mention one study showing no correlation between positive thinking and outcomes fo head and neck cancer. It's also just an interesting article in general.

Nelie

It's an interesting article but it wouldn't have made the news feed because it offers no conclusions that are not open to discussion still.

What makes an opinion blog a reputable one? By nature they are unmoderated, the information is not vetted by anyone, open to opinion etc. I think they are an interesting thing, and I read several that I follow because I like the ideas that the writer has, but I don't read them because they are necessarily a means of putting factual information out there. There are numerous books out now on how to get your product, idea, whatever to spread by virally through the blogosphere. How they can be used (in the guise of disseminating information from what appears to be a credible source) to actually selling an idea or product to you. We ain't in Kansas anymore Dorothy.....

But surely the RSS feed includes science reporting from newspaper articles that does not report new research or offer form conclusions? IN fact, good science reporting, to me, requires reporting when there is conflicting research.

I say this is good reporting because all the articles I have read on this blog (which I admit I only read once in a while, but still have read several articles) only report on primary research originally reported in peer reviewed journals and often quote the authors of that research for how they would sum it up, instead of simply giving the reporter's opinion on what they read. Also they seem to be very good at reporting both sides of an issue when there is research to support both sides. This blog is commercial, but it is edited, like the New York Times or any other paper, and the parent company appears to be targeting people with some education and scientific literacy.

Not all blogs are created equal and not all blogs are just some person about whom you know little or nothing spouting their opinion. One can be a critical consumer of information in the blogosphere as elsewhere. None of this is to say I think the RSS feed needs to include stuff from blogs, even good ones like this.

Nelie