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Squeaky Clean Mice Could Be Ruining Research
Most lab mice are kept in pristine conditions, but a few immunologists think a dose of dirt could make them a better model of human disease.
Universities Have Too Few Women at the Top. How Can They Redress the Balance?
Universities Have Too Few Women at the Top. How Can They Redress the Balance?
Across the UK, universities are falling behind government targets to increase female representation on their boards by 2020. What steps can they take?
It’s Time for the US to Get Serious About Funding Open Access
University of California libraries tackle the transition from subscription-based publishing to sustainable open access.
The Proposal to Lower P Value Thresholds to .005
John Ioannidis discusses the potential effects on clinical research of a 2017 proposal to lower the default P value threshold for statistical significance from .05 to .005 as a means to reduce false-positive findings.
Rethink Public Engagement for Gene Editing
The breadth of social and moral questions raised requires a new architecture for democratic debate, insists Simon Burall.
How Genetics Is Changing Our Understanding of Race
If scientists avoid discussing the topic candidly, racist theories will fill the vacuum.
Blockchain to Help Scholarly Publishing Fight Fraud
How blockchain can be used to time-stamp data and authenticate research.
Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Legitimate Researchers Using Facebook Data Could Be Collateral Damage
Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Legitimate Researchers Using Facebook Data Could Be Collateral Damage
The privacy backlash over Cambridge Analytica and Facebook may lead to explosive consequences for academics.
Open Science in the EU: Will the Astroturfers Take Over?
After years in a deadlock with publishers, researchers are keen to know whether we will now see for-profit companies and ‘astroturfers’ enter the open science landscape and undermine science in pursuit of their commercial interests, while claiming to support the struggle of researchers, who demand more say in the publishing of scholarly articles.
Research Debt
Science is a human activity. When we fail to distill and explain research, we accumulate a kind of debt.
How Putin Can Restore Russian Research
The sleeping bear of Russian science could finally wake - and China can show it how.
Preprints and Citations: Should Non-Peer Reviewed Material Be Included in Article References?
Preprints and Citations: Should Non-Peer Reviewed Material Be Included in Article References?
Should we treat preprints the same way that we treat reviewed and published material? If so, how can we make that clear to readers?
The Enemy Within - Why the Narrative About Universities and Students Went So Wrong
The Enemy Within - Why the Narrative About Universities and Students Went So Wrong
From Margaret Thatcher to Generation Snowflake, Keith Joseph to Sam Gyimah, why and how have universities and students found themselves so firmly on the wrong side of public opinion? And what are we going to do about it?
The Balance Between Bibliometric and Societal Impact
An interview with Kai Chan and his strategies to seek the combination of both kinds of impacts.
The Science of Fake News
Fake news has a long history, but there are new unanswered scientific questions raised by the proliferation of its most recent, politically oriented incarnation.
Meta-Analysis and the Science of Research Synthesis
The accomplishments, limitations, recent advances and directions for future developments in the field of research synthesis.
Learn to Tell Science Stories
What if it is not the concepts described by science fiction that could have the most impact, but the act of storytelling - the creation of scientific narratives - itself?
A Curious Blindness Among Peer Review Initiatives
Overlooking the need for paid Editorial Office staff hobbles many attempts to reform peer review.
How to Tackle the Childcare-Conference Conundrum
Four concrete suggestions - for Childcare, Accommodate families, Resources, Establish social networks - are directed toward research societies and conference organizers who are willing to take a leadership role in creating solutions, either incrementally or on a large scale.
When Splashy Headlines Become the Goal of Science, the Process Suffers
Internal and external pressure drive a rush toward prestige.
Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm
Artificial Intelligence Could Identify Gang Crimes—and Ignite an Ethical Firestorm
A new algorithm is trying to automate the process of identifying gang crimes. But some scientists warn that far from reducing gang violence, the program could do the opposite by eroding trust in communities, or it could brand innocent people as gang members.