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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD

@jsmoliga.bsky.social
217 followers 30 following 64 posts

Sports science researcher and writer, sometimes w/ a zany twist of humor. I also debunk bad science. Used to run fast. Honey connoisseur.

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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A tragic story about a heroic French bulldog sacrificing its life to protect its owners during a bear attack has made international news. It also shows how selective framing, adjectives, and interpretation can add an emotional narrative to a news story. viraldiscontent.substack.com/p/how-a-fren...
viraldiscontent.substack.com
You Shouldn’t Need Six News Stories to Understand a Bear Attack
A heroic French bulldog, a “vicious” bear, a flying chair, and what one bizarre little story reveals about how the news becomes narrative
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“This is your opportunity to be part of the conversation.” Translation: Pay several hundred dollars in registration fees for the privilege of speaking for ten minutes to whoever happens to be in Room 204 at 8:15 a.m.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I work in academia. I've investigated cases of suspected research misconduct and false claims. Here's my analysis of Jason Arday's case. IMO, he thrived on a self-perpetuating academic prestige loop, rooted in misrepresentation. Full analysis: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/analyzing-...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
Analyzing the rise of Jason Arday
How extraordinary claims, institutional trust, and prestige created a self-reinforcing academic success story
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The Jason Arday case may seem highly unusual. But the reality is it follows a typical pattern found within academic cases of plagiarism and research misconduct. Check out my new piece, which provides further context to Arday’s case. academiclife.substack.com/p/how-do-aca...
academiclife.substack.com
How Do Academics Actually Get Caught Cheating?
How plagiarism and research misconduct are actually discovered and why scrutiny sometimes expands
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
It is July 31, and Lowe's would like to remind you that the oppressive heat of summer is the perfect time to purchase a 12-foot demonic pumpkin.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
They say the devil is in the details. The problem is, you can't find him because the statistical methods weren't pre-registered.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Lessons from Toy Story 5: 1. Kids spend too much time on screens. 2. Screens have negative effects on childhood play and socialization. 3. Buy the official Toy Story 5 screen. I couldn't help noticing the irony: viraldiscontent.substack.com/p/toy-story-...
viraldiscontent.substack.com
Toy Story 5 Warns Kids About Screens. Then It Sells Them One.
A movie about children losing themselves to screens comes with a branded tablet that encourages them to check for new messages.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I remember when Scientific American magazine published good, interesting stories rooted in rigorous research. Now, it platforms pseudoscience. One example: AI-based diagnosis using tongue color. beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/how-scient...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
How Scientific American Went from Fighting Pseudoscience to Platforming It
The Strange Story of AI Tongue Diagnosis
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
"If gas prices continue to soar, what will it mean for Republicans come the midterms?" That’s political prediction porn - endless speculation that feels informative but accomplishes nothing. everydayculture.substack.com/p/politics-w...
everydayculture.substack.com
Politics Without an Off-Season
Political prediction porn has infiltrated the news cycle and never seems to go away
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
It amazes me how a disposable plastic container in the shape of a heart can instantly transform two slabs of raw beef into a message of "Happy Valentine's Day!"
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Prediction. A Bollywood halftime show is in the SuperBowl's future. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Book Bollywood for the 2027 SuperBowl Halftime Show
I have a modest proposal for next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Who's frustrated by all of those Valentine's Day Gift Guides? The ones which claim to be thoughtful curated gifts, but are really just affiliate links of random stuff. In response, I made my own. This one is more honest. Or at least, amusing. everydayculture.substack.com/p/the-everyd...
everydayculture.substack.com
The Everyday Culture Valentine’s Day Gift Guide
17 gifts she'll be surprised by; curated with the same care and coherence as the rest of the internet
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Lindsey Vonn skiing without an ACL is not what makes her amazing. Rather, she can ski on a torn ACL because she already IS amazing. Check out our take on the science behind this.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Watching college football and getting hit with Leqembi ads is like the NCAA saying: “Don’t worry — we’ve got something for later.”
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Found this gem today: Stedman’s Medical Dictionary… on floppy disks. We've seen medical knowledge move from 5.25-inch disks to CD to the web to AI models that fit on your phone. Also accepting nominations for Curator of the Museum of Forgotten Academic Technology.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
What if a school bake sale worked like academic publishing? Taxpayer-funded muffins. Unpaid taste testers. A $42 price tag on pie. A satirical breakdown of the triple tax in research and higher education. If you like it, please subscribe for free! beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/baking-bad...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
Baking Bad: The Academic Publishing Model
How public money, free labor, and paywalls create a triple tax on scientific knowledge.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Every day is Black Friday in academic publishing. A $200–$800 expert service (peer review) is permanently marked down to $0 — and nobody even calls it a sale. I recently wrote about this in @undark.org . Links in first reply.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
3I/ATLAS has everyone seeing patterns in pixels. Here’s my guide to help non-experts understand how “image anomalies” emerge — and why they can be so persuasive. open.substack.com/pub/beyondth...
open.substack.com
Anatomy of an Anomaly
Beyond 3I/ATLAS: Something About This Object Doesn’t Add Up
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
We rarely talk about how U.S. taxpayers end up paying three times for the same scientific research — to fund it, to review it, and to access it. It’s time to rethink how we publish and share science. @undark.org undark.org/2025/11/20/o...
undark.org
The Triple Tax on U.S. Scientific Research
Opinion | The hidden economics behind federal research funding causes Americans to pay three times for the same body of research.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Over a month after publication our @bmj.com Investigation into the Q-collar is still attracting reader interest. The second most read article in the journal. 15,000+ reads in the first month. 2500+ last weekend. People want transparency in sports science and the FDA. www.bmj.com/content/391/...
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
3I/ATLAS is the perfect internet drama: One group: “Obviously a weird interstellar comet.” Other group: “Obviously aliens.” They’re looking at the same pixels. Nothing exposes human confirmation bias faster than a new space rock.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
This story recently made many headlines. My comments here got a lot of engagment. So, I decided to write more about it! Check it out on my free Substack newsletter, Beyond the Abstract: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/when-a-fac...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
When a Face “Predicts” Success: The Return of Digital Physiognomy
AI didn’t uncover a hidden truth about success—it rediscovered an old pseudoscience, dressed in machine learning.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
This came up in my feed and immediately triggered my BS detector. The “$2 depression test” detects BDNF in saliva, not depression in people. Cool engineering, zero diagnostic data. Saliva ≠ brain, correlation ≠ diagnosis, prototype ≠ clinical tool. www.emjreviews.com/en-us/amj/in...
emjreviews.com
Scientists Create $2 Saliva Test for Depression
A $2 saliva test could transform early mental health diagnosis. Find out how it works and why it matters.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Is The Mattingly Curse real? @bluejays.com Don Mattingly made the playoffs 11 times, but has 0 World Series rings. I ran the math. There’s a 29% chance this would happen by luck alone: humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-don-ma... In other words, he’s not cursed. He’s probability personified.
humanlimits.substack.com
⚾ The Don Mattingly Curse (and Why It’s Probably Just Statistical Probability)
Eleven postseasons. Zero rings. Infinite narrative potential.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Check out my latest: A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway www.statnews.com/2025/11/02/q... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway
“This is not just about one device. It’s about what happens when institutions grow comfortable living in their own ambiguity and hiding behind opacity.”
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
"Patients and consumers shouldn’t need a FOIA request to understand whether “FDA authorized” reflects compelling evidence or a device permitted despite serious internal concerns, addressed only through labeling caveats." www.statnews.com/2025/11/02/q...
statnews.com
A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway
“This is not just about one device. It’s about what happens when institutions grow comfortable living in their own ambiguity and hiding behind opacity.”
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Reposted by James Smoliga, DVM, PhD
Cheshire @thatsregrettab1.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Happy Friday to those who celebrate! forbetterscience.com/2025/10/24/s...
forbetterscience.com
Schneider Shorts 24.10.2025 – Our eureka moment
Schneider Shorts 24.10.2025 – minibrained autism quacks poison Neanderthals, two sleuths expose massive FDA fail, journalists reveal secret investigation in Canada, California fraudster gets …
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
I truly feel for Sauce Gardner—not just for the concussion, but for believing the Q-Collar could actually protect his brain. A few days ago, @washingtonpost.com featured him in their investigation questioning the evidence behind it. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
Device claims to protect athletes’ brains, but records reveal doubts at FDA
NFL players wear it. Some coaches and parents swear by it. But does the Q-Collar actually work?
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
The BMJ's EIC's thoughts on Q-collar & FDA: "the FDA, has a duty of care to the athletes and therefore the public. It’s a duty of care that the FDA failed to provide in its approval of Q-Collar—a decision that must be revisited." @kamranabbasi.bsky.social @bmj.com www.bmj.com/content/391/...
bmj.com
Q-Collar: hope, hype, and another story of regulatory failure
How far will you go to promote your medical invention? This is a question for clinical innovators. How far will you go to market the invention? This is a question for corporations whose primary purpos...
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Reposted by James Smoliga, DVM, PhD
Dr. Headbutt 🌈🧪 @nicoleackermans.com · 16/10/2025
A more upsetting outcome is marketing of devices like the Q-collar, designed to protect athletes from brain injury, built on pseudoscience claiming to be inspired by bighorn sheep and woodpeckers, which untested, puts the user at risk 🧪
football player wearing a Q-collar device
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Tua Tagovailoa says his secret to avoiding concussions is eating more carbs. So… can bread really protect your brain? I dug into the science (and the psychology). Check out my brand new Human Limits newsletter, focused on sports science + medicine! humanlimits.substack.com/p/can-carbs-...
humanlimits.substack.com
🧠 Can carbs really prevent concussions? Tua Tagovailoa thinks so—and the media ran with it.
Tua Tagovailoa didn’t get a concussion — so which miracle worked this time?
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
It’s me, hi 👋 I’m the scientist, it’s me. My new peer-reviewed study asks does Taylor Swift actually make Travis Kelce play better? 🏈🎤 The manuscript on Taylor Swift is published in @plosone.org journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org
The folklore of the “Swift” effect – lessons for medical research and clinical practice
Taylor Swift’s presence at National Football League (NFL) games was reported to have a causal effect on the performance of Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs. Critical examination of the supposed...
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
At rest, your heart pumps ~5L of blood per minute. During max exercise, cardiac output can quadruple to 20–25L >80% of that blood is redirected to skeletal muscle. All powered by a pump the size of a red onion, squeezing into an aorta about as wide as a mini cucumber. My Coke can visual ⬇️
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Spotted at the grocery store today: pre-decorated pumpkins. At what point did we as a society decide getting a sharpie marker out was just… too much effort? 🎃🤔
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
🧪 “If we tell people science is the search for truth, every correction looks like a lie exposed. If we tell them it’s the search for better explanations, every correction looks like progress.” beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/science-is...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
Science Is Not "Truth"
Our knowledge evolves, our methods improve, and that’s what makes science worth trusting.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
🧠 Hot Brain Summer is here! But not in the way you think. Heat affects health. But that doesn’t mean your neurons are about to melt. I unpack how science, storytelling, and activism can blur together—and why that matters. 👇 Full piece (it’s nuanced): beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/hot-brain-...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
🧠 Hot Brain Summer: When Climate Journalism Overheats
Why separating data from narrative matters — especially when the science is real, but the story overheats.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Back in my vet school days, a professor told us dogs will get blamed for infections they didn't cause. On that note, I decided to write about how pets are perceived as risks to joint replacement surgery patients. What's the evidence? Plz read + share beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/no-dogs-al...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
No Dogs Allowed? Questioning Pre-Surgery Pet Bans
How Anecdotes Turned into Medical Dogma—and Why It Matters
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
When does science become sleight-of-hand? My latest Beyond the Abstract post uses magician tricks—palming, misdirection, forced choice—to unpack how flawed research fools us. And why spotting real science is harder than it looks. beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/research-i...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
Research Illusions: The Magic Behind Poor-Quality Science
The Hidden Trap Doors and Sleight-of-Hand in Scientific Research
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Didn’t expect this: Beyond the Abstract hit #40 on Substack’s rising Science leaderboard in its first 48 hours. Thanks to everyone who’s read, shared, or supported it—I truly appreciate it. 🙏 Give it a read—and if it resonates, consider subscribing: beyondtheabstract.substack.com
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
🏇 Today marks the 151st Kentucky Derby—and Bob Baffert is back after a drug-related suspension. As a veterinarian and sports medicine researcher, I’m still not buying his claim that it was all an innocent mistake. Here’s my hot take: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/prescripti...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
Prescription for Confusion
The Absurdity Behind Bob Baffert's Derby Drug Excuse
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Today, I launched Beyond the Abstract—a newsletter about science, health, and academia. It’s for anyone who cares about evidence—and how it gets used, misused, and misunderstood in research, medicine, and career decisions. Subscribe for free! beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/when-attra...
beyondtheabstract.substack.com
When Attractive Science Falls Apart Under Scrutiny
What a Flawed Study Taught Me—and How It Shaped My Career
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Just published a piece in @statnews.com: Red Dye No. 3 isn’t the real threat—it’s the sugar that delivers it. I argue that banning synthetic dyes may feel like progress, but it risks missing the bigger public health danger. www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/r...
statnews.com
RFK Jr.’s synthetic dye bans miss a much bigger problem
Red dye No. 3 isn’t the real danger — it’s the sugar and refined carbohydrates that deliver it
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
We're family, even if we don't share a single chromosome... Very sweet. Also genetically impossible. But sweet.
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
A 51km ultra marathon everyday, for 390 days in a row. Yes, it's legit impressive, but I always struggle with the "but, why?" component. It seems like there is this one-upmanship with more and more extreme endurance feats just for the sake of it. newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/25/l...
newsroom.co.nz
Legal eagle soars past non-stop ultra world record
A Northland lawyer has run an ultramarathon a day for 390 days - almost doubling the existing world record, and isn't ready to stop yet
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James Smoliga, DVM, PhD @jsmoliga.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Glad to see that statistician Andrew Gelman likes our work debunking the Q-collar!
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