US-Chinese Trade War Puts Scientists in the Cross Hairs
Trump puts tariffs on Chinese technology and China retaliates with taxes on US chemicals.
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Want to Find Investors for Your Research Idea? Change the Way You Pitch
A fundraising pitch involves vastly different style and substance than a scientific talk. Entrepreneurial scientists and engineers need to understand and manage the differences.
Four Principles to Make Evidence Synthesis More Useful for Policy
Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that are inclusive, rigorous, transparent and accessible.
How a Hobby can Boost Researchers’ Productivity and Creativity
A regular pastime can ease mental stress, improve work–life balance and help scientists to reach innovative solutions in their work.
New Zealand Appoints First Female Chief Scientific Adviser
Biochemist Juliet Gerrard will advise the government on key science issues when she takes up the position next month.
The Cost of Turmoil for Mediterranean Scientists
From a failed coup in Turkey, to prolonged financial crises in Greece and Spain, researchers in the region are struggling to keep up.
Microsoft’s Purchase of GitHub Leaves Some Scientists Uneasy
They fear the online platform used for collaborating on research data and software will become less open, but other researchers say the buyout could make GitHub more useful.
Sexual Harassment Is Rife in the Sciences, Finds Landmark US Study
Existing policies to address the issue are ineffective, concludes a long-awaited report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
When It Comes to Reproducible Science, Git Is Code for Success
And the key to its popularity is the online repository and social network, GitHub.
EU to World: Join Our EUR100-Billion Research Programme
European Commission’s next seven-year science-funding scheme - its biggest ever - will allow any country to join for a price. The proposal confirms that the programme will be open to all countries for the first time, which will allow the UK to take part after Brexit.
US EPA Science Advisers Question ‘Secret Science’ Rule on Data Transparency
US EPA Science Advisers Question ‘Secret Science’ Rule on Data Transparency
Independent board will review agency decisions to repeal or change climate regulations and rules on the use of non-public data.
Million-Dollar Kavli Prize Recognizes Scientist Scooped on CRISPR
Award goes to biochemists Virginijus Siksnys, whose lab independently developed the gene-editing tool, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.
Who Gets Credit? Survey Digs Into the Thorny Question of Authorship
Most researchers agree that drafting papers and interpreting results deserve recognition — but opinions don’t always match authorship guidelines.
Citation Analysis Reveals the Game Changers
A study identifies papers that stand the test of time. Fewer than two out of every 10,000 scientific papers remain influential in their field decades after publication, finds an analysis of five million articles published between 1980 and 1990.
Scientists Get More Bang for Their Buck If Given More Freedom
Scientists are more efficient at producing high-quality research when they have more academic freedom, according to a recent study of 18 economically advanced countries. Researchers in the Netherlands are the most efficient of all. The existence of a national evaluation system that is not tied to funding was also associated with efficiency.
Before Reproducibility Must Come Preproducibility
Most papers fail to report many aspects of the experiment and analysis that we may not with advantage omit - things that are crucial to understanding the result and its limitations and to repeating the work. Instead of arguing about whether results hold up, we should strive to provide enough information for others to repeat the experiments.
Science Needs Clarity on Europe’s Data-Protection Law
As a commendable European law on personal data comes into force, the research community must not let excessive caution about data sharing, however understandable, become the default position.
Licence Restrictions: A Fool's Errand
Objections to the Creative Commons attribution licence are straw men raised by parties who want open access to be as closed as possible, warns John Wilbanks.
UK’s Powerful Funding Body Takes Shape
UK’s newly minted unified funding agency has released the first outline of its strategy. The long-awaited document gives the nation’s researchers an insight into how the mega-funding agency - which will command a budget of GBP6 billion (USD8 billion) - will work.
Europe’s Open-Access Drive Escalates as University Stand-Offs Spread
Sweden is the latest country to hold out on journal subscriptions, while negotiators share tactics to broker new deals with publishers. Inspired by the results of a stand-off in Germany, negotiators from libraries and university consortia across Europe increasingly declare that if they don’t like what publishers offer, they will refuse to pay for journal access at all.
Some Hard Numbers on Science’s Leadership Problems
Scientists pride themselves on being keen observers, but many seem to have trouble spotting the problems right under their noses. Those who run labs have a much rosier picture of the dynamics in their research groups than do many staff members working in the trenches.
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