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Second thoughts: Nature Editorial

Second thoughts: Nature Editorial

Revisiting the past can help to inform ideas of the present: science without consensus would be chaos. But the price of consensus is eternal vigilance against complacency, and a willingness to contemplate the road otherwise not travelled.

Scientists Are Just as Confused About the Ethics of Big-Data Research as You

Scientists Are Just as Confused About the Ethics of Big-Data Research as You

Institutional review boards have long governed research ethics, but do they need to evolve in the digital age?

Engagement upgrade

Engagement upgrade

The value that Australia places on publication quality over quantity has elevated it into the top echelon of science. Can it now improve its flagging track record in commercialization?

Q&A: Helga Nowotny

Q&A: Helga Nowotny

Austrian social scientist Helga Nowotny was president of the European Research Council between 2010 and 2013. Now a professor emerita of ETH Zurich and author of The Cunning of Uncertainty (Polity, 2015), Nowotny discusses the growing pressure to capitalize on academic research, and how countries can get it right in the absence of a universal recipe.

In science, follow the money - if you can

In science, follow the money - if you can

In science as in politics, most people agree that transparency is essential. Top journals now require authors to disclose their funding sources so that readers can judge the possibility of bias, and the British Medical Journal recently required authors to disclose their data as well so that experts can run independent analyses of the results. But as transparency becomes the standard, many academics are resisting the trend without pushback from their universities.

Why Altmetric scores should never be used to measure the merit of scientific publications

Why Altmetric scores should never be used to measure the merit of scientific publications

Or 'how to tweet your way to honour and glory'.

Avoiding a lost generation of scientists

Avoiding a lost generation of scientists

By sharing their experiences, early-career scientists can help to make the case for increased government funding for researchers.

A day in the life of a British academic

A day in the life of a British academic

Imagine what would happen if the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in the referendum of the 23rd June 2016? To give our readers a better idea of the consequences of the Brexit for the country's scientists, EuroScientist has commissioned UK technology journalist Paul Hill to write a fictional day in the life of a British academic post-Brexit. This gives food for thought on the factors influencing the position of Europe's centre of gravity in research.

John Oliver exposes how the media turns scientific studies into 'morning show gossip'

John Oliver exposes how the media turns scientific studies into 'morning show gossip'

Science "deserves better than to be twisted out of proportion and turned into morning show gossip."