Guardian’s story on strobe lights: Mouse research on Alzheimer’s again finds its way to mainstream audience

Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the treatment/test/product/procedure?

Not Satisfactory

Given that the research under consideration here involved mice — and genetically bred mice at that — there’s no way to determine whether the intervention would have any benefit at all to people, let alone to quantify the likely benefits for human. The story does acknowledge this. But in the process, it also overstates what is known about the causes of Alzheimer’s and therefore how relevant this approach is to treating it. The story states flatly that “toxic proteins” are the culprit, but this is the subject of much debate within the Alzheimer’s research community and increasing evidence points against it.

Does the story compare the new approach with existing alternatives?

Not Satisfactory

Overall, this story feels inappropriately weighted in several ways, and a lack of background information about the state of the science in treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is one of them. The recently failed Eli Lilly trial is mentioned, but there’s no explanation of other prevention and treatment approaches (some of which are based on an entirely different model of the disease) that are currently under investigation.

There’s also no sense of just how little can be done for Alzheimer’s patients at this point in time, nor indeed how devastating the condition is for victims and their families. That kind of information would have provided a much-needed context for the results of the study.

Does the story establish the availability of the treatment/test/product/procedure?

Not Satisfactory

The story address availability with this statement: “The latest intervention, scientists predict, should be quicker and cheaper to confirm in humans than pharmaceuticals, which typically take more than a decade to develop and assess for safety before the clinical efficacy is even examined.” OK, quicker and cheaper — but does that mean a year from now or five years or 10?

Does the story establish the true novelty of the approach?

Not Satisfactory

The study author and one external source are quoted explaining that the findings are surprising. Just how novel the approach is would have been better established if the story gave readers background facts about current treatments and results of similar research. For example, other researchers reported earlier this year that light stimulation could purportedly “retrieve lost memories” in Alzheimer’s mice.

At the very end we’re told two of the co-authors on the original study are starting a company to investigate therapeutic potential in humans. It would be helpful to know if this company is the first of its kind and whether other researchers are looking into specific types of sensory stimulation as treatment for this disease.

Does the story appear to rely solely or largely on a news release?

Not Satisfactory

The study quotes two independent experts, which is good. But, it uses quotes taken directly from PR materials from the research organization without attribution:

Example, this quote:

“If humans behave similarly to mice in response to this treatment, I would say the potential is just enormous, because it’s so non-invasive, and it’s so accessible,” said Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, and the paper’s senior author.

Is taken from here, which published this as:

“But if humans behave similarly to mice in response to this treatment, I would say the potential is just enormous, because it’s so noninvasive, and it’s so accessible.”