The CDC has a wealth of classroom information (case studies, discussion material) regarding epidemiology. No surprise there. It’s what they do.

In my Microbiology class we’re starting a unit on epidemiology that students are working on in their free time either alone or in groups. We will talk about the project as questions come up, but mostly, I wanted people to have an opportunity to think freely – i.e. without me forcing my own ideas on them.

In my Ecology (population genetics, etc) class, we just spent some time last week discussing how data is just data, and in the absence of a reason to mistrust it, it probably makes sense to assume that the data is correct. However, this leaves the interpretation of the data up for much debate. ‘How so?’ I was asked. ‘Because people run experiments with certain ideas in mind that they would like to support or undermine. There can be many ways to misinterpret data.’

With this in mind, I ask you…

Should farmers try doing more work near noon?

Data suggests that this is the safest time of day. Yet, anecdotally, fewer farmers are putting time in the field at this hour than any other hour of the day(8am-8pm). What’s going on?