Reading the evidence
Study design, sample size, controls, endpoints, conflicts of interest, preprints, and why translation failure is normal.
In vitro, in vivo, in human
What each level of evidence can establish, why the gaps between them are where most claims fail, and how to place a study on the ladder.
Sample size and what it buys you
Why small studies produce unreliable estimates, what statistical power means in practice, and why a small positive study should not raise your confidence much.
Controls, blinding and the split face design
Why the control arm decides what a study can conclude, what blinding protects against, and the specific strengths and limits of split face designs in aesthetics.
Endpoints that mean something
Surrogate versus clinical endpoints, why appearance scales are harder than they look, and how endpoint choice decides what a study can claim.
Conflicts of interest and how to find them
Where disclosures live in a paper, what funding and authorship arrangements do to results, and why disclosure is a starting point rather than a resolution.
Preprints and what peer review actually does
What peer review checks and what it does not, why a preprint is not worthless, and how predatory journals complicate the picture.
Translation failure is normal, not a scandal
Why most promising laboratory findings do not become treatments, what that says about a field, and how to read early results without cynicism.
Can exosomes cause cancer? What is shown and what is not
Tumour cells release vesicles that change how tumours behave in the laboratory. Whether giving vesicles from another source to a person raises cancer risk is a separate question, and it has no human answer yet.
The science briefing
One email a fortnight. What was published in extracellular vesicle and regenerative aesthetics research, what it actually showed, and which claims moved on our grading scale. Written for people who read the methods section.
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Sponsor slot Each issue carries one labelled sponsor line at the foot. Sponsorship buys that line and nothing else. It cannot influence an evidence grade, a correction, or whether a claim is covered. Rate card and refusals.