Just Says in Mice

Learn about the Twitter account that is debunking hyped-up science headlines.

  

It’s happened to all of us – you read an amazing headline about a breakthrough medical treatment, but when you read the full article you discover it was a mouse study. If there were only someone to call out the bad headline writers. Twitter account @justsaysinmice [https://twitter.com/justsaysinmice] to the rescue! The account, which has over 72,000 followers, is run by research scientist James Heathers and has been debunking misleading headlines since April 2019. Its tactics are simple: retweet a bad headline with the comment “IN MICE.”  NPR, Nature, and the NIH have all been taken to task.

If you think misleading headlines written in Spanish are overlooked - think again. The account calls attention to studies done en ratones, too.

In addition to pointing out bad headlines, the account gives kudos to headlines and tweets that explicitly mention the study results pertain to mice.

So if you’re on Twitter and see a headline that forgets to mention it’s a mouse study, just retweet it and tag @justsaysinmice. You’ll be doing your part to ensure more accurate science reporting.