news

Send us a link

Subscribe to our newsletter

Doctors Treat Parkinson's with a Novel Brain Cell Transplant

Doctors Treat Parkinson's with a Novel Brain Cell Transplant

In a secret experiment, researchers replaced the dysfunctional brain cells of a Parkinson's patient with the progeny of an extraordinary type of stem cell.

Facebook Will Pay $52 Million in Settlement with Moderators Who Developed PTSD on the Job

Facebook Will Pay $52 Million in Settlement with Moderators Who Developed PTSD on the Job

Current and former moderators will all be paid a minimum of $1,000. Selena Scola filed the case in California.

Women's Research Plummets During Lockdown - but Articles from Men Increase

Women's Research Plummets During Lockdown - but Articles from Men Increase

Many female academics say juggling their career with coronavirus childcare is overwhelming.

Greek Scientist Found to Have De-frauded European Research Council

Greek Scientist Found to Have De-frauded European Research Council

OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud agency, this week confirmed an unnamed Greek scientist de-frauded the European Research Council (ERC) of roughly €190,000. "A complex fraud involving a Greek scientist and her network of international researchers has been uncovered by investigators," OLAF said.

UK Scientists Furious over Attempt to Censor Covid-19 Advice

UK Scientists Furious over Attempt to Censor Covid-19 Advice

Government scientific advisers are furious at what they see as an attempt to censor their advice on government proposals during the Covid-19 lockdown by heavily redacting an official report before it was released to the public.

How Swamped Preprint Servers Are Blocking Bad Coronavirus Research

How Swamped Preprint Servers Are Blocking Bad Coronavirus Research

Repositories are rapidly disseminating crucial pandemic science - and they're screening more closely to guard against poor-quality work.

In Pursuit of Open Science, Open Access is Not Enough

In Pursuit of Open Science, Open Access is Not Enough

After decades of debate on the feasibility of open access (OA) to scientific publications, we may be nearing a tipping point. A number of recent developments, such as Plan S, suggest that OA upon publication could become the default in the sciences within the next several years. However, there remains a need for practical, sustainable models, for careful analysis of the consequences of business model choices, and for caution in responding to passionate calls for a 'default to open'.

ResearchGate and Wiley Announce Cooperation Agreement

ResearchGate and Wiley Announce Cooperation Agreement

ResearchGate, the largest professional network for researchers, and Wiley, a global leader in research and education, today announced a cooperation agreement to explore ways in which Wiley and ResearchGate can collaborate to better support the needs of researchers through ResearchGate’s collaboration platform.

Coronavirus in Context: Scite.ai Tracks Positive and Negative Citations for COVID-19 Literature

Coronavirus in Context: Scite.ai Tracks Positive and Negative Citations for COVID-19 Literature

Artificial-intelligence tool aims to reveal whether research findings are supported or contradicted by subsequent studies.

Maddox Prize Nominations - Sense About Science

Maddox Prize Nominations - Sense About Science

The John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science recognises the work of individuals who promote science and evidence, advancing the public discussion around difficult topics despite challenges or hostility.

Trust in Scientists Grows As Fake Coronavirus News Rises, UK Poll Finds

Trust in Scientists Grows As Fake Coronavirus News Rises, UK Poll Finds

Poll finds 64% of voters more likely to listen to expert advice as 51% say they have seen fake news about virus

Scientists Say a Now-dominant Strain of the Coronavirus Could Be More Contagious Than Original

Scientists Say a Now-dominant Strain of the Coronavirus Could Be More Contagious Than Original

A mutation in the novel coronavirus has led to a new strain viewed as more contagious than the virus that emerged from China, according to a new study.

Infect Volunteers with Covid-19? A Proposal Lays Bare a Minefield of Issues

Infect Volunteers with Covid-19? A Proposal Lays Bare a Minefield of Issues

The idea of controlled human infection trials has been met with enthusiasm in some quarters, and reservations in others, including from some who run them.

Oxford University Press Launches a New Open Access Journal Series

Oxford University Press Launches a New Open Access Journal Series

Oxford University Press (OUP) announces the first two titles in the new flagship open access journal series. The Oxford Open series launches with Oxford Open Immunology and Oxford Open Materials Science. This is an important step forward in OUP’s open access publishing programme.

NIH's Axing of Bat Coronavirus Grant a 'horrible Precedent' and Might Break Rules, Critics Say

NIH's Axing of Bat Coronavirus Grant a 'horrible Precedent' and Might Break Rules, Critics Say

The research community is reacting with alarm and anger to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) abrupt and unusual termination of a grant supporting research in China on how coronaviruses move from bats to humans. The agency axed the grant last week, after conservative U.S. politicians and media repeatedly suggested—without evidence—that the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, that employs a Chinese virologist who had been receiving funding from the grant.

Policy Briefs of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force

Policy Briefs of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force

The Policy Briefs of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force are now available on its website. They reflect the Task Force thinking on a topic at that time and will be updated in the light of new studies or other data. 

DORA's First Funder Discussion: Updates from Swiss National Science Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and the Dutch Research Council

DORA's First Funder Discussion: Updates from Swiss National Science Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and the Dutch Research Council

DORA launched a new virtual discussion series for public and private research funders. The goal of the series is to increase communication about research assessment reform by providing a space for funders to share and discuss new initiatives, with the hope that this will ultimately serve as a platform to accelerate the spread of good research assessment policies and practices.

We Need Open Science - Crisis or No Crisis

We Need Open Science - Crisis or No Crisis

For years, the Swiss National Science Foundation and other organisations have been demanding open science as the new normal. The corona crisis drastically confirms the validity of this demand.

Scholarly Publishers Are Working Together to Maximize Efficiency During COVID-19 Pandemic

Scholarly Publishers Are Working Together to Maximize Efficiency During COVID-19 Pandemic

Scholarly publishers are working together to maximize the efficiency of peer review, ensuring that key work related to COVID-19 is reviewed and published as quickly and openly as possible. The group of publishers and scholarly communications organizations - initially comprising eLife, Hindawi, PeerJ, PLOS, Royal Society, F1000 Research, FAIRsharing, Outbreak Science, and PREreview - is... Read full article >

US Stays Away As World Leaders Agree Action on Covid-19 Vaccine

US Stays Away As World Leaders Agree Action on Covid-19 Vaccine

Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe. But the United States did not take part.