where not to go for science news…

Back in December, I wrote that the UK’s Daily Mail tabloid is home to the worst science news on the web as far as legitimate publications are concerned. In light of recent events, I stand corrected. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the Daily Mail has made any improvements. Rather, it was overwhelmed by the cacophony of jaw dropping nonsense emanating from Huffington Post’s contributors. From Jim Carrey’s anti-vaccine rants to recommendations of preventing swine flu with colon cleansing and New Age inanities about praying away the new strain of flu, it seems there’s nothing too ridiculous for HuffPo to publish.

Where are all the editors hiding? When I write an essay for BusinessWeek, there’s usually a process during which we discuss the topic and the different aspects of the story. I explain what sources I want to use, what’s the thesis I want to pursue and why I want to do it. Were I to ask my editor if I could write about something as mind-bogglingly nonsensical as Deepak Chopra’s now infamous post about “the intelligence of an oxygen atom,” it would probably be attributed to me working with a very high fever. If I repeat my request, you’d never see another BusinessWeek essay from me ever again. But not at the Huffington Post. They’re so ready to be associated with New Age woo, they don’t care what it does to their reputation.

Or in the words of many other skeptical science bloggers: the stupid, it burns…