Caveat Scientia

Why Health Studies Done on Animals Don’t Always Apply to Humans — Caveat Scientia Caveat Scientia Articles Foundations E-Book About Caveat Scientia Knowledge comes with a warning label. Science & Medicine  ·  Preclinical Research Why Health Studies Done on Animals Don’t Always Apply to Humans Most people have seen a health headline based on an animal study. Far fewer know what happened when…

Animal Cognition  ·  Time Perception  ·  Neuroscience Does Time Feel the Sameto Every Living Thing? From dragonflies living in ultra-slow motion to starfish for whom the world is a perpetual blur — the science of animal time perception is stranger, and more profound, than you think. March 2026  ·  10 min read We carry our sense of time everywhere we go — in alarm clocks, calendars, the anxious…

Headlines suggesting that coffee may protect against dementia have circulated widely following the publication of a large, long term observational study. The idea is appealing. Coffee is already one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. If a few cups a day could meaningfully reduce dementia risk, that would represent a powerful and accessible preventive tool. This article divers…

How Science Really Works: Understanding the Bigger Picture To understand how science really works, it is important to recognize the limitations of a single study or publication. A scientific study is usually designed to test a very specific question under very specific conditions. It may involve a limited number of participants, a narrow focus, and controlled circumstances that do not always…

How Science Really Works: Understanding the Bigger Picture To understand how science really works, it is important to recognize the limitations of a single study or publication. A scientific study is usually designed to test a very specific question under very specific conditions. It may involve a limited number of participants, a narrow focus, and controlled circumstances that do not always…

Artificial intelligence has rapidly become a key tool in scientific workflows. Researchers use tools such as large language models (LLMs) to summarize complex literature, propose hypotheses, and solve structured problems. The use of AI has increased rapidly since it became publicly available. But with increasing reliance comes a vital question: How accurate is AI for scientific research, and how…

Framing complicated research in easy to understand ways This article attempts to review the scientific consensus based on decades of leading research and present the real risk of smoking and lung cancer in a way that is easy to understand and useful for personal decision making. Public discussions of smoking and lung cancer risk often rely on large, shocking statistics. The CDC (Centers for…

A few years ago, I was sitting on a riverbank during a camping trip cleaning my cast iron pan when a friend of mine casually asked “Oh, you’re not suppose to use soap on cast iron, right”? To which I nodded yes, because of course everyone knows that common knowledge. It is an offhand comment that I’ve heard multiple times over the years, never giving it much thought until I realized (like all…

Every week, new headlines announce scientific breakthroughs: a vaccine cuts infection risk by 80 percent, a diet slashes heart disease risk in half, a chemical doubles your cancer risk. These stories catch our attention, shape public opinion, and often influence personal decisions about health, safety, and lifestyle. But these claims are often misleading, using statistics that compare two…

Seed oils are vegetable oils extracted primarily from the seeds of plants rather than from fruits or nuts. They include canola (from rapeseed), soybean, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, corn, and grapeseed oils. Collectively, these oils underpin the modern food supply. They are used in everything from salad dressings and baked goods to deep-fried foods and plant-based spreads. Their popularity…

Almost everyone has heard the claim that antioxidants can slow ageing. The message shows up on food labels, in supplement ads, and across wellness blogs. Antioxidants are said to fight free radicals, protect your cells, and keep you looking and feeling young. It is an idea that sounds simple and hopeful – eat antioxidant rich food and get incredible health benefits. Scientists have been studying…

How To Read A Scientific Study Scientific studies often form the basis of truth in how we think about health, food, and everyday situations. But learning how to read a scientific study can feel like a foreign language if you aren’t very familiar with the subject. There’s jargon, numbers, cautious phrasing, and often a conclusion that’s far less certain than the headline that led you there. Yet,…

How Much Does Drinking Really Raise Your Cancer Risk? The Truth in Real Numbers Let’s be honest, few topics make people as uncomfortable as the link between alcohol and cancer risk. You’ve probably heard the warning before: “Any amount of alcohol increases your cancer risk.” But what does that actually mean? How big is that risk? Is it something you should panic about, or is it just another…

You have probably heard someone say, “Don’t eat the apple seeds, they are poisonous.” Maybe it was a parent warning a child not to crunch the core, or a friend dropping a fun fact at lunch. The idea lingers because it is unsettling, a wholesome everyday fruit hiding a trace of cyanide, the same compound used in notorious poisons. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, Snow White’s deadly…

A new scientific study published in the prestigious journal Nature, titled “Mapping pesticide-induced metabolic alterations in human gut bacteria“, has revealed something important about the way common pesticides might affect the bacteria living in your gut and possibly your health too. But as always with science, a single study does not prove anything and is only part of the puzzle. Do…