Professor Breedlove points the finger

Professor C. Marc Breedlove, who measures the lengths of people’s fingers, and who was mentioned in one of our recent Guardian columns, sent us a letter. He says that:

1. We were probably wrong to call him “a giant” in that field.

2. We got the facts of one of his studies wrong: “Apparently you looked at the graph and maybe you thought you saw a difference, but scientists use statistics to determine whether a difference is likely to be due to chance alone. We concluded that the difference you think you see in the graph was indeed likely due to chance alone.” [Note: The graph is reproduced here. Click it to read the entire study.]
3. His conclusions “will stand the test of time.”

4. “This entertaining tidbit of yours is not helping our society move forward.”