One of the biggest challenges in medicine is that most people, including many physicians, don't read scientific papers. Instead, they learn about scientific breakthroughs through colleagues, journalists, TV commentators, podcasters, social media influencers, and increasingly through algorithms that reward outrage, certainty, and simplicity.
The problem is that science is rarely simple.
A nuanced study showing that a drug may help some people, harm others, and depend heavily on age, gender, genetics, and lifestyle often emerges from the media machine as a headline declaring that the drug either works or doesn't. The history of medicine is littered with examples. Coffee is…
