Show and Tell

I get the bulk of my news from Google News, where I browse headlines and read the articles that look interesting. Similar stories are typically grouped together and you can select which source(s) you want to read. Sometimes its interesting to read two (or more) takes on the same news. Sometimes the headlines themselves are telling.

Take, for instance, these three headlines which I copied from the Sci-Tech page at Google News:

• Velociraptors Had Feathers, Bones ShowFOX News
• "Jurassic Park" Raptors Had Feathers, Fossils Suggest National Geographic
• Bumpy bones suggest Velociraptor had feathers New Scientist (subscription)
  

While very similar, notice the choice of verbs. While the more scientifically-minded journals use suggest, Fox went with show. When looking at data, there is world of difference between these two. It is the difference between "these might indicate feathers" and "these clearly indicate feathers."

Now, remember back in the build up to the Iraq war and those mobile biological weapons labs that Colin Powell shows the UN? Did those pictures of trailers suggest weapons labs or show them? If they showed them, then we would have found (or worse, faced) biological weapons when we invaded. Clearly, this wasn't the case.

Language is important, especially when trying to convey the confidence you have in your data or findings. Good scientists and analysts know the difference between suggesting and showing and will use the appropriate terms.