How to read the evidence
Every claim here carries two independent marks. One says how well supported it is. The other says what kind of thing it is. They are separate on purpose: a well-supported guess is still a guess, and nothing on this platform can borrow the appearance of a finding by scoring well.
Finding or hypothesis
This is the distinction that matters most, so it is the one carried by shape — the thing you can see without reading.
- FindingDocumented
- Reported directly by a cited source. Its evidence strength says how well that evidence supports it.
- HypothesisInferred
- Assembled from separate findings connected through shared biology. No source reports this claim directly.
A hypothesis is never a safety clearance, and neither is silence. If this platform shows no connection between two compounds, that means nothing has been curated — not that nothing exists.
How strong the evidence is
Read the shape first — continuous or broken — then the weight. The evidence strength is computed from recorded facts about the studies behind a claim, and nobody types it in. What decides the evidence strength.
| Strength | Means | Finding | Hypothesis |
|---|---|---|---|
| StrongEvidence strength: strong. Randomised human trials or their synthesis, with the effect's size and interval recorded and no recorded weakness outstanding. | Randomised human trials or their synthesis, with the effect's size and interval recorded and no recorded weakness outstanding | ||
| ModerateEvidence strength: moderate. Human evidence with one recorded weakness, or capped at moderate by its design or by unread numbers. | Human evidence with one recorded weakness, or capped at moderate by its design or by unread numbers | ||
| LimitedEvidence strength: limited. Human evidence with several recorded weaknesses, or a design that tops out at limited. | Human evidence with several recorded weaknesses, or a design that tops out at limited | ||
| Very limitedEvidence strength: very limited. Human evidence with major recorded weaknesses, or non-human, uncontrolled or unverified evidence. | Human evidence with major recorded weaknesses, or non-human, uncontrolled or unverified evidence | ||
| InsufficientEvidence strength: insufficient. Mechanistic inference, no evidence found, or evidence weakened below very limited. | Mechanistic inference, no evidence found, or evidence weakened below very limited |
Chains get weaker
When a connection runs through several steps, its evidence strength is the weakest step’s, dropped one level for every step past the second. Three strongly supported links do not make a strongly supported conclusion.
This is deliberate, and it is the defence against the failure that defines this whole category of content: X activates Y, Y is involved in Z, therefore X causes Z. Three real findings chained into a claim nobody made. Under this rule that chain renders as weak, visibly, without anyone having to catch it.
- StrongEvidence strength: strong. Randomised human trials or their synthesis, with the effect's size and interval recorded and no recorded weakness outstanding.one step, every step strong
- StrongEvidence strength: strong. Randomised human trials or their synthesis, with the effect's size and interval recorded and no recorded weakness outstanding.two steps, every step strong
- ModerateEvidence strength: moderate. Human evidence with one recorded weakness, or capped at moderate by its design or by unread numbers.three steps, every step strong
- Very limitedEvidence strength: very limited. Human evidence with major recorded weaknesses, or non-human, uncontrolled or unverified evidence.five steps, every step strong