NPR⁠84%

How The Wild Hamster Was Tamed ⁠53%

By NPR Staff⁠0%

4/10/2011, 5:32:00 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Availability Heuristic, and Anecdotal, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 23.8% saturation with 78 hits. Analysis detected 488 faulty-reasoning hits from 328 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 51.6% and a BS Rank of ⁠53% (10,417 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 52.40% of the article peer group.

In the spring of 1930, a biologist named Israel Aharoni ventured into Syria on a mission. 
He was searching for a rare golden mammal. 
Its name in Arabic translates roughly as "Mr. 
Saddlebags." 
Thanks to Aharoni, the little rodent with the big cheeks can now be found in many grade-school classrooms, running on a little wheel in a little cage. 
That's right. 
Aharoni's big find was the hamster. 
Of course, Aharoni didn't set out looking for a schoolchild's pet, biologist Rob Dunn tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. 
Dunn, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, wrote about the hamster's discovery in a recent article on Smithsonian.com. 
One of Aharoni's colleagues, Saul Adler, thought the animal might be similar enough to humans to use for medical research. 
"Aharoni saw this as a chance to both to discover this organism in the wild and to bring them back to Adler so he could make major discoveries about humans," Dunn says. 
Following tips from local farmers, Aharoni tracked down a litter of 11 hamsters in a Syrian wheat field. 
He put the little family in a box, and trouble started immediately when mama hamster ate one of her babies. 
More troubles followed in the lab. 
There was more hamster cannibalism, and five others escaped from their cage — never to be found. 
Finally, two of the remaining three hamsters started to breed, an event hailed as a miracle by their frustrated caretakers. 
Those Adam-and-Eve hamsters produced 150 offspring, Dunn says, and they started to travel abroad, sent between labs or via the occasional coat pocket. 
Today, the hamsters you see in pet stores are most likely descendants of Aharoni's litter. 
Because these hamsters are so inbred, they typically have heart disease similar to what humans suffer. 
Dunn says that makes them ideal research models. 
"They do matter to us in this unusual way," Dunn says. 
"In addition to turning those wheels all around the world." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.6%NPR Staff: 1.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Confirmation Bias0.6%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 12.8%NPR Staff: 2.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.8%Availability Heuristic12.8%This article: 11.9%NPR Staff: 0.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic11.9%This article: 8.2%NPR Staff: 0.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.8%Hindsight Bias8.2%This article: 9.8%NPR Staff: 4.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.4%Overconfidence Bias9.8%This article: 8.5%NPR Staff: 6.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.1%Framing Effect8.5%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 4.6%NPR Staff: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Status Quo Bias4.6%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.1%NPR Staff: 3.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Optimism Bias6.1%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 5.2%NPR Staff: 8.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.3%Negativity Bias5.2%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 2.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 1.8%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Primacy Effect1.8%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 23.8%NPR Staff: 2.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.1%Appeal to Authority23.8%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.6%NPR Staff: 2.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 4.4%Hasty Generalization4.6%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 9.5%NPR Staff: 5.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.6%Appeal to Emotion9.5%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 18.0%NPR Staff: 2.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)18.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 12.5%NPR Staff: 0.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Anecdotal12.5%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 4.9%NPR Staff: 1.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)4.9%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 5.5%NPR Staff: 2.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Unattributed Quote5.5%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 1.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.6%NPR Staff: 1.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.1%Biased Writer Voice0.6%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.0%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%NPR Staff: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

328 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker22%attributed speech257writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageRob Dunn • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageRob Dunn • 32 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageRob Dunn • 11 words • 0.0% coverageRob Dunn • 10 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Rob Dunn

100%flagged-word coverage
71 attributed words100% of attributed speech77% writer coverage
0%15.0%30.0%Unattributed Quote+25.4 ptsWriter: 0.0%Rob Dunn: 25.4%25.4%Biased Writer Voice-0.8 ptsWriter: 0.8%Rob Dunn: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.