A recent study published in PLOS Biology has revealed that over 8,000 of the world’s most-cited scientists have at least one retraction in their work. The study, led by John Ioannidis, found that retractions are more common among scientists with higher co-authorship numbers and those who publish a large number of papers. The study also…
Earth on The Soothsayer / page 4
Researchers at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland have made a groundbreaking discovery about the way maggots perceive food. Using genetic tools, they found that certain neurons in the brain control food choice and can sense both taste and texture. This multimodal capacity challenges the conventional view of taste sensing, which holds that specific neurons…
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has made a groundbreaking discovery by collecting and analyzing fragments of the asteroid Bennu, which contain the building blocks of life, including nucleobases and amino acids. The findings suggest that asteroids like Bennu may have played a crucial role in seeding life on Earth. The samples also reveal the presence of salty…
The Trump administration has issued an order freezing all federal grants and loans, sparking chaos and confusion in the US scientific community. Researchers are reeling from the uncertainty, with many universities advising faculty members against spending federal grant dollars on travel, research projects, and equipment. The order has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge,…
A recent survey of Nature readers reveals a significant shift towards the social media platform Bluesky, with 70% of respondents using the platform. This surge in popularity is attributed to Bluesky’s more civil and informed conversations, as well as its lack of toxicity and misinformation. The platform’s user base has grown to over 27 million,…
CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory, has introduced financial incentives for academic publishers to adopt open science policies. The initiative, part of the Open Science Mechanism, will score publishers based on their adoption of open-science practices, such as public peer review and data linking. Those with high scores will receive higher payments, while those with low scores…
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been plunged into uncertainty after the Trump administration cancelled research-grant reviews, travel, and training for scientists. This move has sparked widespread concern among researchers, who fear that the freeze will hinder the agency’s mission and have a devastating impact on early-career scientists. The NIH’s $47 billion budget,…
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery that cancer cells can poison attacking immune cells by filling them with defective mitochondria, helping the tumor to evade eradication. This phenomenon, where mitochondria migrate from one cell to another, challenges our understanding of cellular “ownership” of mitochondria. Further studies are needed to understand the frequency and benefits of…
A recent study has revealed that around 70% of biomedical papers include outcomes that were not expected from the initial funding proposals. This finding suggests that serendipity plays a significant role in scientific research, with larger grants and longer study durations being more likely to yield unexpected results. The study’s authors propose that research policies…
Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of anti-aging, successfully reversing the aging process in mice by injecting them with an RNA molecule. The treatment targets cellular senescence, a hallmark of aging, and has shown promising results in restoring the mice’s physical and mental abilities. This breakthrough could potentially lead to the development…