Do basketball players really have shooting streaks? How can consumers make sense of the recent media frenzy concerning the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of antidepressants? What are the best ways to reach young people who spend 7.5 hours a day using electronic devices?

These are just a few of the topics that a new Cornell Cooperative Extension blog, written by a Cornell professor and a consumer scientist/educator, is addressing. The intent of the blog is to help consumers recognize good vs. bad scientific information and see how research can be applied to human problems.

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"We try to look at what science has to offer, and how it may conflict with popular opinion, media reports or political viewpoints," said blogger Karl Pillemer, professor of human development and associate dean for extension and outreach in the College of Human Ecology.

He added: "For the first 10,000 years of human history, our problem was having too little information. But for the past 20 years, that has changed to having too much. Now more than ever, people need help separating the good scientific information from the bad."

Pillemer and colleague Rhoda Meador, associate director of outreach and extension in the College of Human Ecology and associate director of Cornell's Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, plan to assess the scientific evidence on human problems and look at how to use it every day.

"Some posts will look specifically at what Cooperative Extension professionals do, but all the posts will be relevant to anyone seeking to use scientific methods and findings for the good of the public," she said.

The Evidence-Based Living Blog: http://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/.