Over the years, Nature Methods has published many methods to generate and analyze complex sequence data for microbial studies. We cover highlights from our papers below. Read more
This month we launch a new column ‘Points of Significance’ devoted to statistics, a topic of profound importance for biological research, but one that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. Read more
Choosing the best tool or method for a particular experiment can be a daunting task. Finding the right choice can mean much time and many resources and an improper one can lead to poor or inaccurate results. Read more
When using or developing experimental and observational methods it is crucial to assess the method performance in an effort to ensure that the information it provides reflects reality. For experimental biologists this often means conducting carefully chosen control experiments with alternative methods or different experimental settings. More rigorous assessment, particularly for high-throughput or large-scale methods, often requires the use of ‘ground truth’ or ‘gold standard’ data sets. But talk to different people and you will get different answers regarding what ‘ground truth’ or ‘gold standard’ data is. This often includes a nice historical explanation of where the term ‘ground truth’ comes from. Read more
The May Editorial in Nature Methods discusses how the overall efficiency of research can be improved by comparative analysis of research method and tool performance. Read more
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Let’s give statistics the attention it deserves
Let’s give statistics the attention it deserves
Guidelines for algorithms and software in Nature Methods