Infinite Improbability Drive?
Nature (via the excellent 3QD):
"A Melbourne university has emptied the top floors of one of its buildings after a spate of brain-tumour cases were reported during the past month. Most affected staff worked on the top floor, raising fears that cell-phone masts on top of the building are responsible. But experts say it is far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence. Since mid-April, five staff from the business school of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University have reported developing brain tumours. Two other cases have been reported since 1999. Of the seven, two are malignant and five benign."
link
Experts say it is far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence?!?!
No matter which way I run the math (working from an incidence rate of roughly 14.8 per 100,000 per year and the assumption of even 100 or 200 people on the top floors), I don't see how anyone might conclude that it's far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence. I'd like to see how one arrives at such a conclusion.
[statistics][probability]
"A Melbourne university has emptied the top floors of one of its buildings after a spate of brain-tumour cases were reported during the past month. Most affected staff worked on the top floor, raising fears that cell-phone masts on top of the building are responsible. But experts say it is far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence. Since mid-April, five staff from the business school of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University have reported developing brain tumours. Two other cases have been reported since 1999. Of the seven, two are malignant and five benign."
link
Experts say it is far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence?!?!
No matter which way I run the math (working from an incidence rate of roughly 14.8 per 100,000 per year and the assumption of even 100 or 200 people on the top floors), I don't see how anyone might conclude that it's far more likely to be an unfortunate coincidence. I'd like to see how one arrives at such a conclusion.
[statistics][probability]
posted by metamerist at
10:26 AM
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