Action Potential

Nobel prize-winning neuroscientist Linda Buck has retracted a 2001 Nature paper. In the retraction in this week's Nature, the authors report difficulty replicating the data and 'inconsistencies' between the original data and figures and data printed in the paper. Buck told Nature reporter Heidi Ledford that the figures and data in question were contributed by the first author, Zhihua Zou, who was unavailable for comment.

This is the highest profile retraction that I can recall in neuroscience, but so far, there has been little fallout. Perhaps that's because the original findings were notable only in the neuroscience community rather than in the general public. Regardless, it indicates that neuroscience and its well known labs are not immune from fraudulent data. Although I admire Buck's swift and direct action, it concerns me that the first author has been assigned the lion's share of the blame. This seems like a familiar refrain, and I find it troubling.

Posted by Debra Speert at 10:54 AM on March 06, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories: Debra Speert, Breaking News, Scientific Publishing

By now, you've likely read a shocking headline questioning the effectiveness of the latest generation of antidepressants. Kirsch et al. report that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are only slightly more effective than placebos at reducing depression in a meta-analysis of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data. Are these data really worth all the fuss?

Continue reading "Anti antidepressants" »

Posted by Debra Speert at 11:14 AM on February 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories: Debra Speert, Breaking News

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard University voted Tuesday to adopt an open-access policy, providing a free repository for finished papers, according to a recent press release. This move will allow for greater dissemination of scholarly work conducted at Harvard, says Stuart Shieber, a professor at FAS. Shieber states that a combination of a restrictive publishing system and the “astronomical” cost of journals have led the Harvard professors to support such a venture. An official description of the proposal that was actually discussed by the FAS on Tuesday is here.

As my colleague from Nature Precedings, Hilary Spencer, points out in a recent Nature Network forum, this entire policy is very vague with regards to what is meant by the scholarly article or the "final version." Is that the final, journal-produced PDF? The peer-reviewed, unpublished, non-copy-edited version? The non-peer-reviewed pre-print? According to an analysis written up on TheScientist.com, this mandate would require that published articles be submitted. However, go back and re-read the original proposal and tell me where it says that explicitly.

Continue reading "Harvard open-access policy – can you please be more specific?" »

Posted by Noah Gray at 02:03 PM on February 14, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories: Noah Gray, Breaking News, Scientific Publishing

I don't know what it is about Jim Watson and my blog posting, but every time I mention him (as I did in my previous entry), something else pops up and I have to talk about him again. While doing my morning reading, I stumbled upon an entry from the DrugMonkey blog that was simply too good to pass up. Jim Watson is more mixed race than anyone thought, with 16% of his genes likely to have come from an African great-grandparent, as reported in the Sunday Times.

[12/12 - MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE UPDATE. CLICK BELOW TO CONTINUE READING.]

Continue reading "When it rains...it pours" »

Posted by Noah Gray at 10:23 AM on December 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories: Noah Gray, Breaking News, Popular Press

In a statement issued today, Dr. James Watson resigned as Chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. This is an important event for CSHL, which is now relieved of making more difficult decisions regarding Dr. Watson's future. Although Watson's fund-raising abilities were unparalleled, and he built the lab to what it has become today, in order for CSHL to move forward, he had to leave.

Continue reading "Watson steps down from CSHL position - a lot of hot air" »

Posted by Noah Gray at 10:35 AM on October 25, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
Categories: Noah Gray, Breaking News

James Watson, current chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, shared the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his contributions leading to the discovery of DNA structure. I guess his expertise in molecular biology and genetics has also provided him with a unique insight into the relationship between intelligence and race.

Continue reading "He said what??" »

Posted by Noah Gray at 03:49 PM on October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (1)
Categories: Noah Gray, Breaking News

The physics community already has theirs. Now biology has its own site dedicated to the informal discussion of unpublished results. A new site launched this week, Nature Precedings, allows scientists to upload unpublished manuscripts while they are under consideration at a journal, perhaps inciting conversation and feedback regarding the work even before the article is accepted. In this day and age of caution and paranoia surrounding results (go to any scientific meeting these days and count the number of presentations that focus on published results vs. those that highlight unpublished ones), how do you think this will impact the neuroscience and publishing communities?

I see a definite place for this type of resource, providing a repository of additional data and user comments regarding techniques and discoveries, as a complement to the volumes of published papers that have undergone reviewer-mandated quality-control measures. But change comes slowly, especially when change involves freely releasing one's precious data that have taken years to amass. I am skeptical as to how quickly this concept will integrate into the world of neuroscience. With the ease at which data can be anonymously reproduced and subsequently submitted, I feel that many neuroscientists will be cautious about what data they are willing to let go for free.

However, as a counter, this type of system works well for the physics and mathematics community (plenty of discussion fodder here)...

This is an experiment that should be interesting regardless of its outcome, my favorite kind.

Posted by Noah Gray at 02:43 PM on June 20, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)
Categories: Noah Gray, Breaking News, Scientific Publishing