An ounce of prevention
Crises of infectious diseases are becoming more common. The world should be better prepared
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Beyond today's crowdsourced science to tomorrow's citizen science cyborgs
Computers are getting better and better at the jobs that previously made sense for researchers to outsource to citizen scientists. But don't worry: there's still a role for people in these projects.
Europe’s Open Access Champions just launched
Inspiration from influential European academics on Open Access & what still needs to be done
Eastern blocked
Countries with weak national research systems were always going to struggle to win ERC grants.
Wellcome Image Awards: Inside the human eye
Peter Maloca from University of Basel is one of the winners of the Wellcome Image Awards 2016.
Journal-Flipping Project
A review of approaches and experiences on how to convert subscription-based scholarly journals to open access.
Academics admit feeling pressure to embellish possible impact of research
In the race to apply for research funding, writing statements about future impact can feel like a charade.
The elephant in the room we can’t ignore
If Donald Trump were to trigger a crisis in Western democracy, scientists would need to look at their part in its downfall, says Colin Macilwain.
The future of computing
The era of predictable improvement in computer hardware is ending. What comes next?
Team up with industry
Combining commercial and academic incentives and resources can improve science, argues Aled Edwards.
An unhealthy obsession with p-values is ruining science
A new study shows that p-values have become more popular — and more meaningless — over time.
Collaboration with IBM Watson Supports the Value Add of Open Access | The Official PLOS Blog
Collaboration with IBM Watson Supports the Value Add of Open Access | The Official PLOS Blog
In this massively data rich world, the equilibrium between information and knowledge has increasingly shifted from knowledge toward information. Advanced text and data mining (TDM) is not yet ubiquitous and even if it were, not all content is structured enough to leverage TDM potential. In developing the supercomputer Watson with the ability to process, analyze and extract information from natural language such as PLOS article text, IBM is beginning to shift the equilibrium back to knowledge. Understanding Relationships PLOS and IBM Watson are collaborating to bring quality Open Access biomedical literature to healthcare entrepreneurs and innovators, and to do so in a way that provides full article content and context including PubMed citation information from the National Library of Medicine. The collaboration is “not just about PLOS or Open Access,” says PLOS Chief Technology Officer CJ Rayhill, “it’s about improved healthcare through immediate access to relevant clinical,
French woman aged 91 gets PhD after 30 years
Colette Bourlier, who awarded a high distinction for her thesis on immigrant workers, said it took so long because she ‘took breaks’.
Should academics be paid for peer review?
Should academics be paid for peer review?
As the number of papers needing review increases, journals are thinking of replacing a voluntary system with cash rewards
She Figures: Women and Science 2015
Under-representation of women in science greater in Switzerland than in Europe.
Plan for peer review based research funding opposed
A proposal for a more peer review based funding of Swedish research prepared by the Swedish Research Council has been rejected by a majority of Swedish universities.
The NHS is a much bigger challenge for DeepMind than Go
Training a computer to play Go is an impressive achievement, but AlphaGo may be a long way from being a useful product.
The Government seem more interested in our genes than our voices
Policymakers are moving forward with plans to turn our genetic information into potentially lucrative data. Drawing on recent Freedom of Information disclosures, Edward Hockings and Lewis Coyne ask whether we can trust our institutions with our genomes.
Fermat's Last Theorem proof secures mathematics' top prize for Sir Andrew Wiles
The solution to a 300-year-old mystery has landed Oxford University Professor Sir Andrew Wiles the top international prize for mathematics.
Handful of Biologists Went Rogue and Published Directly to Internet
It could be possible to publish quickly online without alienating oneself from the traditional journal system.
The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
There is an urgent need to improve the infrastructure supporting the reuse of scholarly data. A diverse set of stakeholders—representing academia, industry, funding agencies, and scholarly publishers—have come together to design and jointly endorse a concise and measureable set of principles that we refer to as the FAIR Data Principles.
Saving Science from the Scientists, Part 2
Alok Jha examines the practices and cultures that can undermine the integrity of science.
Staying Afloat in the Rising Tide of Science
New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer discusses the challenges of effectively communicating with the public about science.
Credit where credit is due
When a commercial publisher re-uses images from your blog without permission or attribution.
Science and democracy: a peculiarly British disease?
Two recent programmes on BBC Radio 4 highlight a worrying anti-democratic bias in discussions of science and technology.
How a science search engine is visualizing the discovery process - Storybench
Scientists and journalists share similar skills and challenges in digital storytelling, especially when it comes to researching an unfamiliar field. Current tools for searching information from the academic world in particular can be difficult and time-consuming. PubMed and Google Scholar, for example, present searches linearly—a long list of things to sift through. And if you [...]
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