Why is Rudolph’s nose red? Paul Quayle/Alamy Stock Photo

Christmas is coming, and so are the cheesy seasonal science stories. For most of the year, the BMJ publishes some of the most important medical research conducted today. But at the end of the year, it turns to what it calls “light-hearted fare and satire” – also known as silly tabloid fodder.

The work, while “real” according to the BMJ, has at times been impossible to test or based on fictional characters and traits. The journal has previously published a paper looking at whether the magical skills possessed by the fictional Harry …