When “Freakonomics” came out in 2005, I figured it was a
watershed moment in public discourse.  At last, I thought,
someone with a big, loud platform was casting light on an all-
too-common practice in which scientists and science journalists
peddle correlation as causation.  The game goes like this: Count
how many sesame seeds fat people eat, compare them to how many
sesame seeds skinny people eat, spin the disparity into a press
release with the headline “Sesame seeds may cause obesity,” then
rest assured that the news media will throw gasoline on the fire
with a headline like, “Sesame Seeds Linked to Obesity,” or
“Sesame Seeds Make You Fat?”  The only rule is that you must
never, ever raise the question of how many of those sesame seeds
were on Big Macs.  Play this game well and you win the grand
prize: attention, attention, and more attention — just what many
researchers are after.  The best-selling “Freakonomics,” which
takes a fascinating look at conventional wisdom through the
prism of economic analysis