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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.
John Ioannidis is perhaps best known for a 2005 paper “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” One of the most highly cited researchers in the world, Ioannidis, a professor at Stanford, has built a career in the field of meta-research.
There are three vectors of failure that can be addressed by better technology: time, cost, and the quality of the output itself.
Combining commercial and academic incentives and resources can improve science, argues Aled Edwards.
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.
Training a computer to play Go is an impressive achievement, but AlphaGo may be a long way from being a useful product.
The Royal Society’s new campaign highlights the importance of life outside the laboratory
The release of millions of journal papers online reflects impatience with an outdated publishing model, says John Willinsky
Researchers on social media ask at what point replication efforts go from useful to wasteful.
The near-romantic spirit of adventure and exploration that inspired young scientists of my own and earlier generations has become tarnished.
Two recent programmes on BBC Radio 4 highlight a worrying anti-democratic bias in discussions of science and technology.
Drawing comparisons to Edward Snowden, a graduate student from Kazakhstan named Alexandra Elbakyan is believed to be hiding out in Russia after illegally leaking millions of documents.
New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer discusses the challenges of effectively communicating with the public about science.
With citation indexes being routinely questioned, ‘alternative metrics’ could gain ground as a new indicator of research success. But can they be trusted?
Understanding what an ad’s language really means will help you optimize your job search results.
Some researchers think science should be small again.
The make-up of a lab is crucial to success in publishing its research — and now, scientists are exploring how to compose the best research group possible.
The fascinating story of the discovery of nuclear fission began with an error that earned Enrico Fermi (see picture) a Nobel Prize for the apparent but incorrect discovery of the transuranic elements. Careful repetition and extension of the experiments finally led to the correct interpretation by Hahn, Meitner, Strassmann, Frisch, and Bohr as an effect from nuclear fission of the “small impurity” of (0.7 %) contained in natural uranium.
When presenting evidence to policymakers, scientists and other experts need to engage with the policy process that exists, not the one we wish existed.
Where once scientists used to be solitary creatures, today science is a highly collaborative affair, and the latest research in ecology is no exception.
Jesse Singal argues that the critique by Gilbert et al on the Reproducibility Project isn’t as muscular as it appears at first glance.
Science self-regulation allows detecting more quickly and accurately methodological flaws, fraudulent results and conflicts of interest that may affect the credibility of the discovery. However, it also opens room for disproportionate reactions.
Tianhui Michael Li and Allison Bishop write about the overemphasis on calculus in high school and college math courses. Statistics, linear algebra and algorithmic thinking are more valuable in the digital age.
Ben Goldacre on why a ban on researchers speaking to politicians and policymakers fails the taxpayers who fund them
New startups like this one are trying to disrupt traditional academic publishing.
Reanalysis of last year's enormous replication study argues that there is no need to be so pessimistic.
