The press needs a science education

Dear Sir,

The LA Times recently published an Op-ed by Mr. Amen on brain disorders and behavior, arguing that current candidates for the presidency exhibit obviously dysfunctional brains and that they should have their heads examined.

What were you thinking? As a working cognitive neuroscientist, I don't have time to
rebut everything said in the article and Amen himself, so I'm just writing to help
editorial boards learn.

But see this Slate article for a great start.

Sure, it is an opinion page. But publishing opinions by quacks on scientific areas in
which the public is extraordinarily interested is an terrible disservice to your readers.
People love to learn about the brain, but do not understand that this man is not a
scientist! You've now joined the notorious company of the New York Times in publishing pseudoscience brain Op-eds in the past weeks (and I'm sure that both of these helped the writer's company coffers). Thank you, our nation's papers of record, for helping to educate the public about what real neuroscientists do. Next time, when considering one of these pieces, do researchers and the public a favor and just say no.

p.s. - please read the New York Times letter to the editor, signed by 17 cognitive neuroscientists (a number of which I have been lucky to work with), protesting last month's atrocious political brain scan "experiment" Op-ed.

People want to learn about the brain, so please, I beg you, stop hurting america.