Is Dr. Science on the Bench?

This story from The Nation, Putting Science in the Dock, (by Barry Yoeman, 3/26/07 print issue) shouldn’t have made me laugh and think of Dr. Science, but it did. (When the going gets tough, the tough start laughing at the absurdity of it all.) It also reminded me how hard it is to explain Law to laypeople and I think Mr. Yoeman did a pretty good job of explaining scientific evidence, Daubert, and onward. Travis McDade, his The Book Thief, did a remarkably good job explaining the federal sentencing guidelines from A to Y (I’m not sure there ever will be a Z, which is not necessarily a bad thing). Reporting and storytelling is tough stuff and I appreciate it immensely when it’s done well.