Grrr... scientific mistake on NPR

[TXlib]

This morning, on Judy Muller's commentary on Pluto, Judy claimed, "some astronomers reclassified Pluto as a brown dwarf." This is incorrect; a brown dwarf is a massive object, larger than Jupiter; a star that failed. Rather, Pluto was reclassified as a Kuiper Belt object. (Although some still consider it a planet.)

[pmbryant]

1. LOL

Too bad I didn't hear that one.

When is Jupiter going to be re-classified as a supernova? ;-)

:bounce:

--Peter

[CO Liberal]

4. Or a Chevy Nova?

[SnowGoose]

2. I noticed that too.

Yea, I noticed that too (before coffee even!). I would have thought that the garden-variety science reporter would not make such a mistake.

[northzax]

3. and you know what?

of the 37 people in the US who can tell you that, 36 of them were probably listening. And will write irate letters chastising NPR on making a minor error (ok, to people who care, probably not a minor error) all those people will now start listening to the Morning Zoo for intellectual enlightenment.

ok, probably not.

[TXlib]

6. There are a lot more than 37 people in the US who

can differentiate between a brown dwarf and a kuiper belt object. Percentage-wise, it's still a miniscule fraction of the population.

There are probably far more people who would assume "brown dwarf" is a slang term for an ethnic Little Person.

[northzax]

10. so I rounded down

we'll make it an even 38.

[pmbryant]

12. Why even bother with accuracy in reporting then?

Why even bother reporting it if only "38" people are interested enough to care about accuracy? :eyes:

Albeit harmless, this was a really stupid mistake and is way too typical of popular science journalism. It is partly because of sloppy reports like this that so few people know much about scientific issues. And that, I think, is quite harmful in the long run.

--Peter

[MUAD_DIB]

5. I heard that too!

That one made me do a doubletake.

If Pluto is a brown dwarf then does that make Jupiter a red giant?

http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/browndwarf_fg.html

[JHB]

7. It makes Jupiter a Foozball...

...or to use the technical term, a zesty, scrumptious foozball.

:silly:

[punpirate]

8. Pretty goofy...

... since there's no object in the solar system (except our little star, the sun) massive enough to be considered stellar in any form (whether Jupiter or Pluto).

Pluto a brown dwarf? Methinks the reporter has been watching "Red Dwarf" a bit too often.... The word rubbed off....

[BurtWorm]

9. Brown dwarf?

She must have been talking about the Pluto the dog.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Wow - that's just irresponsible

Or a slip of the tongue. But either way, sheesh, not even in the same ballpark.