They call this science?

Top 10 Science Stories of 2012 – Not!
While moderating the midnight “Mad Scientist” panel at last weekend’s LibertyCon, we talked about Scientific American’s “Top 10 Science Stories of 2012.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/art...

This is all well and good, until you start counting down to the #1 science story of 2012 and learn that many of the stories they list aren’t really science stories at all. Here is the list, you be the judge:

#10 Felix Baumgartner’s high altitude jump (Yes, this stunt is considered science by the magazine.)

#9 Starvation Diet Fails to Boost Longevity - in primates as it does in rats (This is science.)

#8 Bold, Private Efforts Step into Roles Vacated by NASA (Personally, I don’t consider this science. But that may be my NASA bias showing through.)

#7 Pandemic Avian Flu Genes Made Public (Another real science article)

#6 Record Meltdown of Arctic Sea Ice (Another science article, but it is somewhat tainted by the #1 article you will see below.)

#5 “Obamacare” Upheld by Supreme Court (This one is clearly a non-science story.)

#4 Publication of the ENCODE Encyclopedia: A Milestone in Genome Research (Yeah! Another science story!)

#3 NASA’s Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars (I consider this to be an engineering story, not a science story. But perhaps I am splitting hairs…)

#2 The Higgs Boson is Detected (A real science article.)

#1 Sandy Devastates the U.S. Northeastern Coast (Yes, this is Scientific American’s #1 science story for 2012.)

To say that the attendees of the panel were disappointed in the list would be an understatement. I’m beginning to think that Scientific American should change its name – any suggestions?