TED talks have become a bit of a yawn-fest these days, with grand ideas that really amount to nothing. But here’s one that’s really important: Ben Goldacre talking about how the pharmaceutical industry skews published scientific research, and why that’s really bad.
Often, the results from drug tests go unpublished if the findings are negative or inconclusive. The result is that doctors often don’t know everything about the drugs they’re prescribing. In this talk, Ben explains why that’s the case, exactly how dangerous it is, and what can be done about it. “Thought-provoking” doesn’t quite do it justice. [TED]