For Yet Better Science

Negative comments, regardless of their merit, could sway readers’ perceptions  

I’ve been aware of Leonid Schneider’s expose blog ever since the piece on the supposed  fraud of Nobel prize-winner Gregg Semenza  appeared on my Twitter feed. Schneider portrays himself as an  under-dog ; the self-styled “ failed scientist ” has taken a liking to pillaring the hypocrisies of the scientific establishment. To be honest, although criticisms of the undertakings of science are always needed, especially when it concerns matters of data integrity, publishing practices, and perverse incentives in academia, I am a bit weary of uncritically listening to someone who appears to have no established career in either science or science journalism (the only pieces published under his own name appear only on the blog he runs). And his pieces do come off with a bit of crankiness – reading them alone one would think that the scientific establishment is infested with data forgery, devised by scientists whose only wish is to publish in fancy journals at any cost.

The best science for better  lives. Explore the latest high-quality research from The Lancet Group.  

Goal:  I'm aiming for Better Science, especially in psychology and related areas. I have proposed a reconceptualization of significance testing, a tutorial for data testing, and a clarification of p-values, significance, and meta-analysis; I'm also discouraging the use of NHST and substituting Fisher's and Neyman-Pearson's approaches instead. I have also developed a procedure for Sensitiveness Analysis (similar to Power Analysis but more appropriate when we know nothing about the alternative hypothesis). I will seek to expand into confidence intervals and hypothesis testing (Bayesian statistics) in the future  

The ideas and culture of ancient Rome influence the art, architecture, science, technology, literature, language, and law of today.  

Thousands of years after its collapse, ancient Rome is well known for its ingenious engineering tactics and advanced technology. From constructing hundreds of roads stretching thousands of miles to maintaining a water supply sustaining millions of people, Roman engineers provided the ancient world with technology ahead of its time.  

Science and technology in the Netherlands  has an extended history, producing many notable achievements and discoveries in the field. It is an important component in the  economic  and  societal  development of the  Netherlands . The  Dutch government  is a driver of scientific and technological progress with science expenditure passing €4.5 billion every year.

Early in 2018, the UK’s BioIndustry Association and the Medicines Discovery Catapult 1  published a remarkable report calling for the process of drug discovery to be ‘humanised’ in order to ease the productivity crisis in pharmaceutical research. The mission of the Medicines Discovery Catapult is to help UK biotech companies transform so that the UK can maintain its position as one of the prime locations for developing new medicines. The UK industry leaders interviewed for the report stated that the key problem with the current system was the poor ability of existing pre-clinical models to reliably predict safety and efficacy in humans.

With the help of EU backing, the University of Latvia’s Institute of Solid State Physics has achieved elevated academic standing and greater collaboration between science and industry.  

A building that once housed an iconic former department store in the centre of Slovenia’s third largest city has come back to life with a fresh appearance and new content to become the country’s largest park for promoting science, technology and innovation and a place where science lives.

Emotionally charged, yet evidence free, accusations of scams, fraud and cover-ups are common. While they mostly lack credibility, such accusations may be effective at  polarising debate and reducing understanding .  

As publics around the world look to scientists and the research and development process to bring new treatments and preventive strategies for the novel coronavirus, a new international survey finds scientists and their research are widely viewed in a positive light across global publics, and large majorities believe government investments in scientific research yield benefits for society. Still, the wide-ranging survey, conducted before the  COVID-19 outbreak  reached pandemic proportions, reveals ambivalence about certain scientific developments – in areas such as artificial intelligence and genetically modified foods – often exists alongside high trust for scientists generally and positive views in other areas such as space exploration.

Ten calls to action for research culture. Research culture should be defined by fairness, appreciation, diversity and holistic assessment. Better Science shows how this works.

What if that knowledge . . . should become the possession of all? Would not science itself progress in leaps, and cause mankind to make strides in production, invention, and social creation, of which we are hardly in a condition now to measure the speed?