ReplicationMarkets is launching another project – this time users are asked to predict and bet on the success of preprint papers on Covid-19. The process…
Science
Ten Years of Retraction Watch
Retraction Watch is a watchdog organization that monitors scientific misconduct and, well, watches the retraction of scientific articles. Not only is their work very thorough…
Using CRISPR to Create More Male Offspring
Scientists in California have used CRISPR, a gene editing tool, to engineer the genome of a bull calf. The idea is this: the region on…
How 70 Research Teams Came To Different Conclusions Based on the Same Data
70 research teams were tasked with analyzing the same identical set of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans. In many areas, they came to…
Is Sex Binary?
content note: discussion of biological sex and a binary classification thereof Update: Maybe one point warrants a bit more clarification: I indeed believe that people…
First Attempts to Reverse Aging in Humans
Most people think of aging as something inevitable. But not all agree and the research into aging and how to reverse it has become more…
The Effect of Sci-Hub on Science
In 2016 Alexandra Elbakyan was listed as one of the top 10 people who mattered in science by Nature. And indeed, her impact on science…
A Map of Univariate Distributions
My roommate recently showed me this map of univariate distributions and I think it’s awesome. Here is a snapshot: It visualizes the relationship between different…
Retraction Watch – Tracking Retractions as a Window Into the Scientific Process
I recently learned about a cool website called Retraction Watch. They do exactly what the name suggests: They track papers that get retracted to highlight…
Can Donating Blood Help Reverse Aging?
I have previously written about the programmed death of organisms and about efforts to reverse aging. Now a new study is out and it is…