This is fun, I'm being science-splained on BlueSky because I pointed out that a viral post saying that a "groundbreaking" treatment for Alzheimer's disease was er...tested in rats. Apparently I do not understand the research process. It's like Twitter in the old days! - ThreadSky

vickyyyf.bsky.social • 3 days ago

This is fun, I'm being science-splained on BlueSky because I pointed out that a viral post saying that a "groundbreaking" treatment for Alzheimer's disease was er...tested in rats. Apparently I do not understand the research process. It's like Twitter in the old days!

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vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Let's make this into a teachable moment for any budding science communicators. I think I'll use it in the courses on scicomm I teach to scientists. Here is the bluesky post. As you can see, it has gone viral in the 24 hours since it's been posted.

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Let's bounce around a bit with a few elements of the post that are misleading and why this is important. Let's start with "scientists...have...discovered a groundbreaking molecule, WIN55.212-2"

A brand new molecule that could treat Alzheimer's! Great.

But....

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

There are 621 published papers referencing this molecule with the first in 1993. The researchers did not discover this molecule.

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

The compound is not even new in the context of Alzheimer's research.

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Let's move on to the next bit which is the most problematic IMO "that reverses early cognitive damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease."

This line STRONGLY implies that the compound has been tested in humans with Alzheimer's disease. Wow! Incredible.

However...

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Both in the title and the deck of the press release, it is mentioned that the work is done in rodents. This is a responsible press release and good practice.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250115125408.htm

helikitty.bsky.social•3 days ago

What a waste of time and money.

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

No, I don't agree with that. Research on rodents is a core part of drug evaluation and development. There's nothing wrong with the research here in my opinion, just the way it was misrepresented in the original post.

helikitty.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thank you for the information.

doubtingthomas1959.bsky.social•3 days ago

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, 1000x Bravo!
Thank you for everything about this. As a former researcher, I find it exasperating that “breakthroughs” plop down into the social media sphere and are gobbled up by readers and accepted without the first thought of verification and/or followup.

funnygurl.bsky.social•3 days ago

oh no, they are here too?

vickyyyf.bsky.social•3 days ago

Apparently so. Some well meaning/well intentioned comments or perfectly reasonable questions and some...disappointing replies.

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