BNFO 300 
Molecular Biology Through Discovery
Approach to Research Articles
Spring 2017
(Jan 19, 2017)

Your aunt has reached the age where she is frail, and her physician has advised her to take high amounts of Vitamin D. Your family has doubts about this, and since you are known to be engaged in science, they have called on you to investigate whether taking Vitamin D is a good idea.

You found on the web four newspaper stories that seem pertinent (see below)... but they clearly don't speak with one voice! Are some of the sources fake news outlets? Are some of the researchers bought off by the pharmaceutical or organic vitamin industry? The question is difficult to assess just from the articles, so you take the matter to us, your colleagues in this class, to resolve the matter.

Adopt one of the news articles listed below and find the research article that matches it (same researcher, same year, same topic, and same journal if known). Read the full text of the research article so that on Thursday, January 19, you will be able to discuss it with your colleagues to try to sort out what's going on. Carried over to Tuesday, January 24. See below.

 
Article
Yours, if your last name
A
Vitamin D deficiency
figures in hip fractures

Chicago Tribune, 2 June 1999, Cassandra West
lies between A and G
B
Extra vitamin D and calcium
'a waste of time'

Telegraph, 28 April 2005, News p.12. Nic Fleming
lies between H and Ma...
C
Over 65? Take lots of
vitamin D to prevent a fall

Reuters Health News, 2 October 2009, News. Megan Brooks.
lies between Mc... and Re...
D
Vitamin D pills for elderly
'increase their risk of falls'

Daily Mail, 4 January 2016. Sophie Borland.
lies between Ri and Z

Addition for Tuesday, January 24
Meet with your group (listed below) before Tuesday, and use the research articles you found (not the newspaper articles!) as the basis to compose one or more slides that respond to the following:

  • How is it that seemingly contradictory articles can describe a single reality in our universe?
  • Give example(s) of specific results (not conclusions) that justify your explanation.
  • Insert into your slide one error. Best form dictates that the error is not trivial, is not likely to be the same error chosen by another group, and is not trivial to detect but when detected evokes in others the reaction "Oh, I should have seen that!"
If your group doesn't want to or can't meet physically, you might find useful the Blackboard meeting rooms accessible through Resources & Links or the Zoom open room accessible through the link in an e-mail sent to you Jan 19.