Ben Goldacre
Saturday December 3, 2005
The Guardian
People often ask me [pulls pensively on pipe] “what is science?” And I reply thusly: science is exactly what we do in this column. We take a claim, and we pull it apart to extract a clear scientific hypothesis, like “homeopathy makes people better faster than placebo” or “the Chemsol lab correctly identifies MRSA”; then we examine the experimental evidence for that hypothesis; and lastly, if there is no evidence, we devise new experiments. Science.
Back in December 2003, as part of our Bad Science Christmas Gift series, we discovered The Perfect Sommelier, a rather expensive wine conditioning device available in all good department stores (www.badscience.net/?p=192) In fact there are lots of devices like this for sale, including the ubiquitous Wine Magnet: “Let your wine ‘age’ several years in only 45 minutes! Place the bottle in the Wine Magnet! The Wine Magnet then creates a strong magnetic field that goes to the heart of your wine and naturally softens the bitter taste of tannins in ‘young’ wines.”
At the time, I mentioned how easy it would be to devise an experiment to test whether people could tell the difference between magnetised and untreated wine. I also noted how strange it was that none of the manufacturers seemed to have bothered, since it could be done in an evening with 50 people.
Over to Dr James Rubin et al of the Mobile Phones Research Unit at Kings College London, and their new article doing just that, in the esteemed Journal of Wine Research (full reference at badscience.net) They note the dearth of experimental research (quoting, rather chuffingly, the Bad Science column itself) and go on: “One retailer states, ‘we challenge you to try it yourself – you won’t believe the difference it can make’.” Unwise words. “A review of Medline, PsychInfo, Cinahl, Embase, Amed and the Web of Science using the search term ‘wine and magnet’ suggested that, as yet, no scientists have taken up this challenge.”
Now this study was, I have to say, an extremely professional operation. Before they even started, they did a power calculation: this is to decide how big your sample size needs to be, to be reasonably sure you don’t miss a true positive finding by not having enough subjects to detect a small difference. Since the manufacturers’ claims are dramatic, this came out at a mere 50 subjects.
Then they recruited their subjects, using wine. This wine had been magnetised, or not, by a third party, and the experimenters were blind to which wine was which. The subjects were also unaware of whether the wine they were tasting, which cost £2.99 a bottle, was magnetised or not. They received wine A or wine B, and it was a “crossover design” – some people got wine A first, and some people got wine B first, in case the order you got them in affected your palate and preferences.
There was no statistically significant difference in whether people expressed a preference for the magnetised wine or the non-magnetised wine. To translate back to the language of commercial claims: people couldn’t tell the difference between magnetised and non-magnetised wine. I realise that might not come as a huge surprise to you. But the real action is in the conclusions. “Practitioners of unconventional interventions often cite cost as a reason for not carrying out rigorous assessments of the effectiveness of their products. This double-blind randomised cross-over trial cost under £70 to conduct and took one week to design, run and analyse. Its simplicity is shown by the fact that it was run by two 16-year-old work experience students (EA and RI).”
“Unfortunately,” they continue, “our research leaves us no nearer to an understanding of how to improve the quality of cheap wine and more research into this area is now called for as a matter of urgency.”
“Drawn to drink: A double-blind randomised cross-over trial of the effects of magnets on the taste of cheap red wine” G. James Rubin, Gareth Hahn, Edward Allberry, Ross Innes And Simon Wessely. Journal of Wine Research Volume 16, Number 1 / April 2005 pp.65- 70
·Send your bad science to bad.science@guardian.co.uk
Fontwell said,
January 12, 2006 at 4:05 pm
I have just speed read your comment, and the thing is Harry, the kind of things you propose have been done. Repeatedly. They just aren’t seen as news worthy, or if they are, they are given significantly less coverage than the latest ‘eating lard makes you intelligent, slim and irresistible to women’ story. People just aren’t interested. Bastards.
Steve Phelps said,
February 8, 2006 at 4:19 pm
This is a flawed experiment. As well as sampling across different tasters, you need to sample across different wines in order to draw meaningful conclusions. It may be that the device works well on some wines but not others, and the particular wine you have chosen is one of those for which no effect is observed. Your results therefore are no more meaningful than if you had used only a single taster in your study.
trycheapwine.info » Blog Archive said,
August 22, 2007 at 2:01 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?I mean, should we try holding our mobile phones up to our vodka to? say? ….. If cheap wine suffers from ageing then the tasters should have preferred the … […]
trycheapwine.info » Blog Archive said,
August 22, 2007 at 9:33 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Cheap Wine Suggestions Food & Drink. … I think you can get some cheap German wines from Tesco, try Liebfraumilch. No other feeling could compare, … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
August 27, 2007 at 12:45 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?I just thought some of you might want to try this with me and we can help eachother … can be found here: www.leftofme.com/how-to-brew-cheap-wine/ … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
September 7, 2007 at 9:06 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?First, magnetise your wine ?I mean, should we try holding our mobile phones up to our vodka to? say? ?.. If cheap wine suffers from ageing then the tasters … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
September 12, 2007 at 9:44 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?How to Make Ridiculously Cheap Cool Aid Wine – wikiHow … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
September 17, 2007 at 3:02 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Open a bottle of wine with a piece of string. – Instructableshmmmn. . . neat trick, but sounds a bit tedious. try this one on for … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
September 20, 2007 at 2:20 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Recommendations for buying the best cheap wine online for as low as under … Fair Wine Competition, the 2005 Smoking Loon Syrah definitely deserves a try. … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
September 22, 2007 at 12:31 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?I mean, should we try holding our mobile phones up to our vodka to? say? ….. If cheap wine suffers from ageing then the tasters should have preferred the … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
October 2, 2007 at 3:31 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?if your looking at the bottom of an empty wine bottle that was good wine if itits still mostly full it wasnt try cheap wine boones farm snow creek berry no … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
October 7, 2007 at 1:31 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Cheap wine and a three day growth. It all started when Bambi had just turned …. and I try to insist on nursery tunes instead but she is having none of it. … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
October 12, 2007 at 7:06 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?First, magnetise your wine ?if your looking at the bottom of an empty wine bottle that was good wine if itits still mostly full it wasnt try cheap wine … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
October 18, 2007 at 2:52 pm
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Recommendations for buying the best cheap wine online for as low as under $10 … Drink now, and try pairing with grilled prawns in a lemon garlic marinade. … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
November 5, 2007 at 5:01 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?After hundreds of years of wine making, French vintners know what they?re doing. … Cheap, unaged Bordeaux worth try. By Dan and Krista Stockman … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
November 9, 2007 at 10:04 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?Cheap Wine Ratings is all about finding good wine at affordable prices. … to try some Portuguese wines for some time now and today for Wine Blogging … […]
| trycheapwine.info said,
November 10, 2007 at 5:42 am
[…] Bad Science ? What is science? First, magnetise your wine ?If you know little or nothing about wine, want to spent less than $15, … All worthwhile and cheap. If you are feeling adventurous, try Thierry and Guy Le … […]
Using Magnets To Instantly Age Your Wine - Fact or Fiction? | The Wine Making Guy said,
July 16, 2009 at 4:24 pm
[…] What is science? First, magnetise your wine … […]
wayscj said,
November 21, 2009 at 7:33 am
ed hardy ed hardy
ed hardy clothing ed hardy clothing
ed hardy shop ed hardy shop
christian audigier christian audigier
ed hardy cheap ed hardy cheap
ed hardy outlet ed hardy outlet
ed hardy sale ed hardy sale
ed hardy store ed hardy store
ed hardy mens ed hardy mens
ed hardy womens ed hardy womens
ed hardy kids ed hardy kids ed hardy kids
iphone revolution said,
December 30, 2009 at 8:47 am
iphone wireless
iphone
Apple iphone