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Scientists or beancounters: who decides what's best for UK science?

Scientists or beancounters: who decides what's best for UK science?

Consultants think they can make publicly funded research more efficient. But they’re in danger of ignoring existing analyses – and real-life experience.

European science cloud on the horizon

European science cloud on the horizon

Europe’s researchers have access to super-fast networks, common data storage facilities, and shared computing resources. The challenge now is to link them all together into a single science cloud.

We discovered one of social science's biggest frauds. Here's what we learned.

We discovered one of social science's biggest frauds. Here's what we learned.

What are the right lessons to draw from the rise in scientific retractions?

Half of biomedical research studies don't stand up to scrutiny and what we need to do about that

Half of biomedical research studies don't stand up to scrutiny and what we need to do about that

What if I told you that half of the studies published in scientific journals today - the ones upon which news coverage of medical advances is often based - won't hold up under scrutiny?

Experimental reproducibility has always been hard but cooperation could make it easier

Experimental reproducibility has always been hard but cooperation could make it easier

Is public money being thrown away on scientific research whose results won’t hold up to scrutiny?

Why we are teaching science wrong, and how to make it right

Why we are teaching science wrong, and how to make it right

Active problem-solving confers a deeper understanding of science than does a standard lecture. But some university lecturers are reluctant to change tack.

Science professors need leadership training

Science professors need leadership training

To drive discovery, scientists heading up research teams large and small need to learn how people operate, argue C. Leiserson and C. McVinney.

Can we expect a MIRAcle for biomedical researchers in the US?

Can we expect a MIRAcle for biomedical researchers in the US?

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH has come up with a new system for funding researchers. Will the new Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award prove beneficial?

Practical policies can combat gender inequality

Practical policies can combat gender inequality

Mechanisms to help researchers to balance work and home lives have made a positive difference to the gender balance at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.

A scientific ethical divide between China and West

A scientific ethical divide between China and West

China is spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually in an effort to become a leader in biomedical research. But some experts worry that medical researchers in China are stepping over ethical boundaries long accepted in the West.

The web will either kill science journals or save them

The web will either kill science journals or save them

Scientific research is awesome-we read it, we build upon it, we innovate with it, and we love it. But the process of getting research from the scientists who spend months or years with their data to the academics who want to read it can be messy.

Retraction of scientific papers for fraud or bias is just the tip of the iceberg

Retraction of scientific papers for fraud or bias is just the tip of the iceberg

Investigating fraud is hard work, and it is easier for journal editors to ignore the problem and perpetuate the myth that peer review of trial reports ensures their scientific quality.

Funders must encourage scientists to share

Funders must encourage scientists to share

To realize the full potential of large data sets, researchers must agree on better ways to pass data around, says Martin Bobrow.