Photo: BMJ.com
These days, we’re constantly bombarded with studies of all kinds, most of them seemingly conducted by British scientists who, at least at first sight, have a lot of spare time on their hands.
Many of these studies are contradictory: eat chocolate but stay away from it, drink wine and coffee but try to lead a clean lifestyle with no alcohol and caffeine, the likes. Apparently, the efficacy of parachutes, when used for commercial or military purposes, has also been subject to many studies.
The latest is perhaps the most shocking of all – had it not been conducted as a joke and a means to show just how misleading research can be without proper interpretation. It’s called the PARACHUTE trial or the Look Before You Leap study and it’s just been published in the British Medical Journal.
The conclusion is that parachutes don’t save the lives of those who jump out of airplanes, for whatever reason. As such, the world could do without them, thus cut incredible costs that go into making and testing them.
The study included 23 volunteers, selected from passengers on commercial flights and family members / friends of the scientists. Half of them had parachutes on their backs, while the others were strapped with empty backpacks – and no one died or was injured in the fall. Conclusion: parachutes are useless in terms of keeping their wearer alive during a jump.
The catch is that the study had the volunteer jump from a stationary plane, mere feet from the ground. The scientists note that the results “might not be generalizable to the use of parachutes in aircraft traveling at a higher altitude or velocity.”
“The PARACHUTE trial satirically highlights some of the limitations of randomized controlled trials,” the scientists also say, explaining why they came up with the idea for such an apparently-stupid trial. “Nevertheless, we believe that such trials remain the gold standard for the evaluation of most new treatments. The PARACHUTE trial does suggest, however, that their accurate interpretation requires more than a cursory reading of the abstract.”
In more simpler words: stop believing everything you read online unless you’ve seen it with your own eyes – and have bothered to read the entire thing throughout.
The latest is perhaps the most shocking of all – had it not been conducted as a joke and a means to show just how misleading research can be without proper interpretation. It’s called the PARACHUTE trial or the Look Before You Leap study and it’s just been published in the British Medical Journal.
The conclusion is that parachutes don’t save the lives of those who jump out of airplanes, for whatever reason. As such, the world could do without them, thus cut incredible costs that go into making and testing them.
The study included 23 volunteers, selected from passengers on commercial flights and family members / friends of the scientists. Half of them had parachutes on their backs, while the others were strapped with empty backpacks – and no one died or was injured in the fall. Conclusion: parachutes are useless in terms of keeping their wearer alive during a jump.
The catch is that the study had the volunteer jump from a stationary plane, mere feet from the ground. The scientists note that the results “might not be generalizable to the use of parachutes in aircraft traveling at a higher altitude or velocity.”
“The PARACHUTE trial satirically highlights some of the limitations of randomized controlled trials,” the scientists also say, explaining why they came up with the idea for such an apparently-stupid trial. “Nevertheless, we believe that such trials remain the gold standard for the evaluation of most new treatments. The PARACHUTE trial does suggest, however, that their accurate interpretation requires more than a cursory reading of the abstract.”
In more simpler words: stop believing everything you read online unless you’ve seen it with your own eyes – and have bothered to read the entire thing throughout.
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