My MIL and I got into a discussion about that the other day. She was telling my daughter that possums are good because they eat ticks. I was quick to let my daughter know that it wasnt a true statement and that possums are still not good around our house
that was a junk science proposal that came from one study cited over and over where a number of ticks and a small mammals and marsupials were placed in enclosures , the study was about something else but they drew the conclusion that since the possum ate some of the ticks in the enclosure each night , that possums diets are made up of a large number of ticks.
this is just as true as saying all men enjoy reading XYZ magazine as it is what they are holding when the nurse enters the exam room after making you wait 45 minutes at the Doctors office , while failing to tell the reader of the article that XYZ was the only magazine available in the DR exam rooms and if the DR was running on time not one male patient was holding XYZ magazine it was only noticed after leaving them in the exam room 45 minutes or longer past their scheduled appointment that such notice of XYZ magazine was occyring in about 33% of patients , while also failing to mention that that one clinics exam rooms are in the basment and have zero cell coverage or data coverage.
so a man provided with one option in a magazine will be reading it 1/3 of the time when left >45 minutes in a windowless room with no data or other options for reading material.
that is as much sense as the possum not a study made.