Make sense of the evidence
A promising lab result does not tell you whether a product fits your needs. Start with the questions that matter, explore the evidence and work out what still needs checking.
Find the right questions
Practical explainers to help you judge a claim for yourself.
14 guides to explore
- Performance and measurements
Energy and computing units: a reader glossary
Use this glossary when you read claims about energy, power or computing.
- Evidence and credibility
Grants and patents are not evidence that it works
A press release, company page or funding announcement may say that a technology is patented or funded.
- Studies and trials
How a drug approval differs from a trial result
A published trial shows what a study found.
- Performance and measurements
How to check a battery performance claim
Battery claims often rest on one number.
- Evidence and credibility
How to judge a technology breakthrough headline
A short checklist for reading a news story or press release about a new technology.
- Studies and trials
How to read a clinical trial result: a reader checklist
A trial result in a headline is a claim until you have checked a few basic things.
- Readiness and timelines
How to read a technology timeline
A launch date is a claim, not a fact. Four checks for telling a dated milestone from a projection.
- Performance and measurements
How to read an AI benchmark score
A benchmark score is a result for one test under one setup. Four checks to make before trusting it.
- Studies and trials
How to read an animal study
A headline that says a treatment worked in mice is a statement about mice.
- Evidence and credibility
How to read error bars and confidence intervals
What an error bar or confidence interval can and cannot tell you, why overlapping bars are not a test of difference, and four checks a reader can make.
- Evidence and credibility
Preprints versus peer-reviewed papers: a reader guide
This guide helps a reader tell a preprint from a peer-reviewed paper.
- Evidence and credibility
Reading funding and conflict of interest statements
A funding statement says who supported the work.
- Studies and trials
What a pilot study can and cannot show
This guide is general information, not medical advice.
- Readiness and timelines
What a TRL number does and does not tell you
A Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is a single number.