But the study recognises that in some cases, airlines do not have an incentive to do so.

BBC: EU Commission: Airport slots need improvement

It is somewhat technical, and admittedly will take a few issues and some study to get your head around, but once you do, oh my.

FORBES: 2011 Forecast: World Outperforms U.S., Europe Scuttles

"The bias has been that people with spinal cord injury don't walk, but a lot of the patients with some movement do" says UCLA neurologist Bruce Dobkin, who led the study.

FORBES: To Walk Again

The problem: it is easy to do a small study in a few animals or a few people, and reach some optimistic conclusion that can be spun into good marketing copy.

FORBES: Why Outrageous Food Health Claims Will Continue Despite Lawsuit

In a recent study economists at the OECD found that America does indeed do well on some measures, such as breast-cancer survival rates and cervical-cancer screening, compared with other rich countries.

ECONOMIST: Reforming American health care

Some of these questions may seem like inside baseline, but they are issues that have to do with whether the study can be trusted and how we should react to the results.

FORBES: Researchers Who Ran Controversial Chelation Trial Respond to Questions