Seeing a cause where one does not exist, or may not exist, is known as the false cause fallacy. Correlations are a primary source of this confusion because correlations can look an awful lot like ...

Much of the time, people derive causation from correlation. Put another way, when two odd circumstances seem to align with one another, people assume that one causes the other. Such logic simply makes ...

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. I usually focus on something a ...

Correctly distinguishing between correlation and causation is critical because it influences how treatments for illnesses are devised and tested. Also, in the context of the law, it ensures that as ...

Jonathan Borwein (Jon) receives funding from the ARC. Michael Rose does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, ...

Greg Scaduto is the parent of a nonverbal autistic child, author of the blog “Broken but Readable” and an advocate for the Autism Society. In this piece that originally appeared in U.S. News and World ...

Causation and correlation may sound alike but are very different. The former means the root of subsequent events, while the latter refers to an actual or apparent relationship between trends in which ...

There’s an old saying that goes, “figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.” But sometimes even the figures can spin a confusing story. That’s why I’ve always appreciated the power of understanding ...

Most studies include multiple response variables, and the dependencies among them are often of great interest. For example, we may wish to know whether the levels of mRNA and the matching protein vary ...

In general, people like the world to make sense. We try to see connections even where they don’t exist. We want to understand the “why’s” and exert control over our environments. And we want to ...