I love Harper’s, but I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with the “Findings” section on the last page of each issue. I just finished the July issue, so I’ve heard of some of the stories and know the context. “Kryptonite was discovered in Siberia,” I read, but I know that actually the new material found had the same chemical structure as Kryptonite allegedly does in Superman, but otherwise, there aren’t similarities between the newly discovered material and the mythological bane of Superman.
I am suspect of each little “Finding,” and I suppose they are supposed to be there for the reader’s amusement. And I am amused — when I am not frustrated, wanting more, suspecting the credibility, desiring more context, more meat. “Injustice contributes to heart disease. Fruit flies have free will.” What?
The tags that go along with these “findings” lend to their credibility, that perhaps, while we are amused, was should also trust them. “Scientists,” “German researchers,” “A Californian physicist,” “A study,” “Experts,” and a slew of other commonplaces let me know that these are true, however misconstrued.
