As online comments on newly published research become widespread, a new dilemma faces scientists wanting to enter the electronic fray: where to comment, and in what format for maximum impact? Read more
It’s general practice in research publishing to issue retractions for papers that must be withdrawn. But what to do when the papers in question are not merely flawed science, but utter gibberish generated by a computer programme? Read more
The European Research Council (ERC) announced today that it has joined the list of more than 170 institutions to financially support arXiv, the major online repository for pre-print papers operated by Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York. Read more
John Mainstone, who for 52 years tended to one of the world’s longest-running laboratory experiments but never saw it bear fruit with his own eyes, died on 23 August after suffering a stroke. He was 78. Read more
Last November, the US National Institutes of Health said that ‘as of spring 2013’ it would start cracking down on enforcing its public-access policy – and it appears the agency is now seeing positive results. Read more
British scientists should not celebrate victory in their libel reform fight just yet, according to the campaigners who have spent years pushing for change. Read more
The financially stressed MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston appears to have invested at least US$1.5 million in capital funds in a new ‘corporate’ office suite that will be home to Lynda Chin, the wife of MD Anderson president Ronald DePinho. The revelations come in an article in The Cancer Letter, published today. Read more
As they sipped an Ontario sauvignon blanc and munched on Canadian lobster and tuna tartar, guests gathered last night at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC for the presentation of the prestigious Canada Gairdner Awards. But one key guest was missing. Read more
The controversial emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step will be made available without a doctor’s prescription to girls aged 15 and 16, who currently need a doctor’s order, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday. The agency also said it would move the pill (levonorgestrel) from behind the pharmacy counter to drugstore shelves. That means that, on weekends and after work hours, older women will no longer need to seek a pharmacy with a working pharmacist to obtain the pill, which becomes less effective the longer after sexual intercourse it is taken. Under the new regime, girls under 15 will continue to need a doctor’s prescription and older females will still need to show proof of age. Read more
Fresh from attending President Barack Obama’s announcement of the BRAIN Initiative at the White House on April 2nd, Society for Neuroscience president Larry Swanson, a neurobiologist at the University of Southern California, composed this letter to SFN’s nearly 42,000 members. Read more
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Archived newsblog. Breaking news from the world of science, brought to you by Nature’s news team.
The report produced by the investigators does not say so explicitly, probably out of fear of prejudicing future criminal/civil inquiries,… ... Read more
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Experiments reveal that crabs and lobsters feel pain
US research ethics agency upholds decision on informed consent
Chemistry credit disputes under the spotlight
Chemistry credit disputes under the spotlight
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