For Yet Better Science

The creation of WADA contributed to harmonization of anti-doping and changed doping behavior and prevalence in the past 22 years. However, the system has developed important deficiencies and limitations that are causing harm to sports, athletes and society. These issues are related to the lack of evidence for most substances on the Prohibited List for performance or negative health effects, a lack of transparency and accountability of governance and decision-making by WADA and the extension of anti-doping policies outside the field of professional sports. This article tries to identify these deficiencies and limitations and presents a plea for more science, better governance and more education. This should lead to a discussion for reform among stakeholders, which should cover support of a new Prohibited List by actual research and evidence and introduce better governance with accountable control bodies and regulation. Finally, comprehensive education for all stakeholders will be the ba

Free guides to promote research excellence – ideal for those embarking on a career in research or for those needing a useful refresher. Each guide offers  practical tips from a wide range of ecologists – an invaluable resource for students and their supervisors all around the world.

Recent  articles in  Science  and the  New York Times  focused primarily on the very serious topic of potential scientific misconduct. However, these articles only lightly touched upon the concept of short selling stock, and I believe this matter deserves more attention for its inherent conflicts of interest. Short selling entails borrowing shares of a stock, selling shares high, followed by buying shares back at a lower price and pocketing the difference. Short sellers profit from devaluing a stock. It is legal to devalue stocks using public statements, and short sellers will often use social media as a primary venue to make defamatory statements, expressed as opinions. This process is known as “short and distort.”  

The diversity in applications, experience and size in the Laserlab-Europe community is both a challenge and a virtue. The main goal of the workshop is to include as many views and opinions as possible from the Laserlab-Europe partners, and to introduce the existing efforts and landscape to provide an overview, while keeping enough time to hear about the scientists’ needs and opinions and foster discussion.

Questions for scholars who do field research with indigenous communities: "Whose research is it? Who owns it? Whose interests does it serve? Who will benefit from it? Who has designed its questions and framed its scope? Who will carry it out? Who will write it up? How will its results be disseminated?" Often these questions and the issues they raise are seen as a nuisance.

In fast-paced crises like COVID-19, making use of scientific discovery in policymaking is challenging. We should learn the lessons of the current pandemic to make science a better partner to decision-makers in future crises, Sandro Galea writes.

India's research output and patent numbers have increased in the recent years as the government opens up to collaborations with the private sector. But more spending on research and development has not translated to improvement in scientific communications, a   report   suggests. The report by a private group Impact Science points out that while in many countries the public communication of science has changed from a “virtue to a duty”, the public knowledge about what research institutions do and what factors drive their ‘going public’ is very limited in India.