"Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver last night devoted his main segment to what I'll call "A new study shows ..." genre of cable news and Facebook clickbait.
While headlines like Time Magazine's "Scientists Say Smelling Farts Can Prevent Cancer" (which has been changed to "A Stinky Compound May Protect Against Cell Damage, Study Finds") may make it seem like science is bullshit, Oliver clarified that rather "There is a lot of bullshit masquerading as science."
"Not all scientific studies are equal," he continued. "Some may appear in less-than-legitimate scientific journals. And others may be subtly biased because of scientists feeling pressure to come up with eye-catching positive results."
In a recent "Today Show" segment on the benefits/dangers of whole milk, meteorologist-personality Al Roker concluded, "I think the way to live your life is you find the study that sounds best to you and you go with that."
"In science, you don't just get to cherry-pick the parts that justify what you were going to do anyway," Oliver responded. "That's religion. You're thinking of religion."
Watch the full segment below:
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