I ’m not sure whether Shark Week was ever really a bang-up moment in scientific discipline communicating with the public . But after last week ’s Megalodon especial and simulated shark fact on Discovery Channel , we lie with for sure that sharks have join UFOs in the chronological record of Great Pseudoscience . Shark researcher David Shiffman break it down for you .
First of all , let ’s acknowledge that a lot of good came out of Shark Week . Shiffman did anAMA on Redditwhere he was able to give substantial , scientific answer to the hundreds of mass posing questions . And over onSouthern Fried Science , he identifies a lot of other swell stories worth reading , too :
TheNational Marine Fisheries Service showcased important science and management with ” # NOAAsharkweek . ” Ed Yong postedthe highlights of his retiring coverage of shark scientific discipline and conservation issues , as didDeep Sea News . Deep Sea News also bring out a variety of awful new mental object , including “ 5 cool things about shark you wo n’t see on video this week , ” apowerful billet by Alex Warneke about why it matters what depicted object Discovery includesin their specials , a fascinatingpost by Holly Bik on the microbiome of shark , a post onthe cathartic of a SharkNadoby my preferred physical oceanographer Kim Martini , anda list of shark - themed drink from Craig . The Scientific American Blog connection had a lot of great shark science taradiddle as well , with posts byJasonat Thoughtful Animal , Johnat Extinction Countdown , Darrenat Tetrapod Zoology , andeven Bora himself . PLoS blogscovered it . Even technology web site likeMashable got in on the shark action .
But then there was the Discovery Channel and itsMegalodon special . Plus , this “ documentary film ” about how the giant nonextant shark could still survive was n’t the only problem , say Shiffman :
http://gawker.com/shark-week-opens-with-fake-megalodon-documentary-1028053485
While a lot of negative attention has rightfully focused on “ Megalodon : the monster lives , ” much of the relief of Shark Week 2013 was also worrying ( see my full equipment failure in Wired ) . One particularly laughable documentary was “ Sharkpocalypse , ” a claim so defective that the hosts mocked it during the show . The content was n’t much better . This documentary claimed that shark “ attacks ” are increase because we killed too many shark so now there are too many seal so there are too many shark . Huh ?
Probably the worst part , though , was when Discovery Channel start gloat about how great it was that they had convinced flock of hoi polloi that Megalodon still exist .
Shiffman includes this helpful computer graphic , showing that almost 75 % of the great unwashed polled think that Megalodon is still live — despite what scientist say . So essentially , a web devoted to skill education is trumpeting its ability to persuade people that pseudoscience is accuracy . Oh , Shark Week . You are only one measure withdraw from Ghostfacers .
Read more of Shiffman ’s post onSouthern Fried Science
Marine biologyScienceShark WeekSharks
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