Author: Nancy Shute / Source: Science News
It almost feels like people think every known disorder could be cured by tweaking the gut microbiome: The list of possibilities includes obesity, liver disease, diabetes, autism, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, depression and anxiety. The length of that list alone invites skepticism among those of us who cover science.
But there’s enough evidence that gut microbes influence disease to make it an exciting area of study.The challenge in covering an emerging field of scientific inquiry is to accurately convey the basis for excitement while avoiding hype. That’s especially true when reporting on a disease like Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder that afflicts millions of people worldwide and has no cure. Science News contributor Laura Beil takes on that challenge in this issue. She interviewed researchers around the world who are trying to figure out how the gut and brain could be communicating. Beil also talked with a woman who created a company to help fund research into the potential role of the gut microbiome in Parkinson’s after her husband was diagnosed at age 44.
Balancing one family’s compelling story against the hard fact that the science may not pan out is a challenge, one that many journalists fail. But Beil was well aware of the pitfalls. She has covered biomedical…
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