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Troubled from the start
Pivotal moments in the history of academic refereeing have occurred at times when the public status of science was being renegotiated.
UK government pulls back from rule ‘gagging’ researchers
Research council grants will escape anti-lobbying crackdown, government confirms.
How one lab challenged a grant rejection and won €5 million
A British scientist successfully appealed against an unfavourable grant review — but the road to victory can be paved with challenges.
Character traits: Scientific virtue
Character traits: Scientific virtue
Elite scientists generally agree on what character traits make for excellent science.
Recognize the value of social science
A professional body for UK social scientists can help to improve research practice — and not just in public engagement, says Andrew Webster.
Smartphone science
Researchers are learning how to convert devices into global laboratories.
Flagship brain project releases neuro-computing tools
Human Brain Project asks wider neuroscience community to start using its hardware and software.
South Korea trumpets $860-million AI fund after AlphaGo shock
Historic win by Google DeepMind's Go-playing program has South Korean government playing catch-up on artificial intelligence.
Cultural conundrum
The Chinese government’s professed commitment to transparency and responsiveness has had a rocky start.
Set up a ‘self-retraction’ system for honest errors
Notices should make obvious whether a withdrawal of research is the result of misconduct or a genuine mistake, says Daniele Fanelli.
Excluded, intimidated and harassed: LGBT physicists face discrimination
Transgender people are the most affected.
Australian cryptologists concerned by restrictive exports law
Other scientists also say the need to get a permit for applied ‘dual-use’ research may constrain academic freedom.
The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
There is an urgent need to improve the infrastructure supporting the reuse of scholarly data. A diverse set of stakeholders—representing academia, industry, funding agencies, and scholarly publishers—have come together to design and jointly endorse a concise and measureable set of principles that we refer to as the FAIR Data Principles.
The elephant in the room we can’t ignore
If Donald Trump were to trigger a crisis in Western democracy, scientists would need to look at their part in its downfall, says Colin Macilwain.
Living factories of the future
Scientists are designing cells that can manufacture drugs, food and materials and even act as diagnostic biosensors.
Team up with industry
Combining commercial and academic incentives and resources can improve science, argues Aled Edwards.
How many replication studies are enough?
Researchers on social media ask at what point replication efforts go from useful to wasteful.
Web widget nudges scientists to share their data
Open Data Button launched to encourage public sharing of data sets.
Group dynamics: A lab of their own
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.
‘Open-hardware’ pioneers push for low-cost lab kit
Conference aims to raise awareness of shared resources for building lab equipment.
Statisticians issue warning over misuse of P-values
Policy statement aims to halt missteps in the quest for certainty: the misuse of the P value is contributing to the number of research findings that cannot be reproduced warns the American Statistical Association.
Women under-represented in world’s science academies
Fewer than half of academies have policies in place to boost gender equality in membership.