Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Research finds 'US effect' exaggerates results in human behaviour studies
http://gu.com/p/3t99n
Scientists who study human behaviour are more likely than average to report exaggerated or eye-catching results if they are based in the United States, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 research papers in psychiatry and genetics. This bias could be due to the research culture in the US, authors of the analysis said, which tends to preferentially reward scientists for the novelty and immediate impact of a piece of work over the quality or its long-term contribution to the field.
Scientists who study human behaviour are more likely than average to report exaggerated or eye-catching results if they are based in the United States, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 research papers in psychiatry and genetics. This bias could be due to the research culture in the US, authors of the analysis said, which tends to preferentially reward scientists for the novelty and immediate impact of a piece of work over the quality or its long-term contribution to the field.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Can tablet screens disrupt sleep? (and how to report it)
Can tablet screens disrupt sleep? | Technology | guardian.co.uk
what is worth reading about this 'science story' is not the interesting headline (in the classic 'study shows' genre) but how the piece itself is an unusually good example of how such stories should be reported. While there is indeed first the eye catching headline, the inevitable invoking of authority with phrases such as 'a team of scientists', and even mention of a related proven phenomenon which makes the study more plausible ("Melatonin is a hormone used by the body as a biological indicator of how dark it is outside"), what is excellent about this piece is it then provides details on the study (just 13 volunteers), links to the paper itself, who funded it, and most importantly, a counter argument, which in fact is much more persuasive than the original conclusion.
This story is a classic example of small, unreliable and commercially funded 'research' which we are so often bombarded with, not because they we need to be informed, but because they are 'topical', and help fill some pages. So refreshing to see it handled properly for a change.
Some extracts
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9533249/Using-iPads-before-bed-can-lead-to-a-poor-nights-sleep.html
With its classic 'researchers are warning approach" - though fair dues to the Telegraph for squeezing in a cancer reference, since as it so often tells us, everything must either cause or cure it...
what is worth reading about this 'science story' is not the interesting headline (in the classic 'study shows' genre) but how the piece itself is an unusually good example of how such stories should be reported. While there is indeed first the eye catching headline, the inevitable invoking of authority with phrases such as 'a team of scientists', and even mention of a related proven phenomenon which makes the study more plausible ("Melatonin is a hormone used by the body as a biological indicator of how dark it is outside"), what is excellent about this piece is it then provides details on the study (just 13 volunteers), links to the paper itself, who funded it, and most importantly, a counter argument, which in fact is much more persuasive than the original conclusion.
This story is a classic example of small, unreliable and commercially funded 'research' which we are so often bombarded with, not because they we need to be informed, but because they are 'topical', and help fill some pages. So refreshing to see it handled properly for a change.
Some extracts
- - team of scientists who found that exposure to the light from self-luminous displays, such as Apple iPads, could be "linked to increased risk for sleep disorders because these devices emit optical radiation at short wavelengths, close to the peak sensitivity of melatonin suppression".
- - However, Russell Foster, a professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford, is not convinced. For a start, he said, melatonin levels were not a good way to predict how much sleep someone will get
- - One final thing that very few of the news reports on the research have mentioned: the study was funded by Sharp Laboratories of America, the research organisation run by Sharp Corporation, the electronics company that makes TVs, PCs and tablets.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9533249/Using-iPads-before-bed-can-lead-to-a-poor-nights-sleep.html
With its classic 'researchers are warning approach" - though fair dues to the Telegraph for squeezing in a cancer reference, since as it so often tells us, everything must either cause or cure it...
Sunday, July 22, 2012
The 'chemputer' that could print out any drug
When Lee Cronin learned about the concept of 3D printers, he had a brilliant idea: why not turn such a device into a universal chemistry set that could make its own drugs?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/21/chemputer-that-prints-out-drugs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/21/chemputer-that-prints-out-drugs
Monday, July 16, 2012
Meet 'Dr Love', the scientist exploring what makes people good or evil
Paul Zak, a world expert on oxytocin, or what he calls the 'moral molecule', talks about his research
Meet 'Dr Love', the scientist exploring what makes people good or evil | Science | The Guardian
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Dawkins-Wilson row....levels of selection
Richard Dawkins in furious row with EO Wilson over theory of evolution | Science | The Observer
For lay spectators, the row is a symptom of the long and controversial evolution of the very idea of evolution. At root it is a dispute about whether natural selection, the theory of "the survival of the fittest" first put forward by Charles Darwin in 1859, occurs only to preserve the single gene. Wilson is an advocate of "multi-level selection theory", a development of the idea of "kin selection", which holds that other biological, social and even environmental priorities may be behind the process.
According to one expert in evolution and development, Professor Georgy Koentges of Warwick University, the central problem is the impossibility of defining "fitness", whether in organisms, organs, cells, genes or even gene regulatory DNA regions. As a result, he sees both Dawkins and Wilson as "straw men" in this debate.
"Dawkins has a lot of unnecessary rhetoric in his review," he said this weekend. "He is usually on the spot, but it has to be said that some of his arguments are based on older models of calculating fitness. The difficulty is in assigning what Darwin called 'fitness' to a particular genetic feature. They are trying to set basic fitness conditions which they believe work over very long periods of time.
"This is a fantasy. There is no such thing as a good or bad gene. It doesn't work that simply. Genes are used and re-used in different contexts, each of which might have a different overall fitness value for a given organism or a group."
In later life Darwin said he wished he had called his theory natural preservation, rather than selection, but even the preservation of certain genes down the ages is no proof that they are good.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Is the future of drugs safe and non-addictive? | Science | The Guardian
Is the future of drugs safe and non-addictive? | Science | The Guardian
extract :
extract :
- could or should we vaccinate people to protect them from developing an addiction in the first place, just as we do today with vaccines for polio and whooping cough? Is it violating somebody's human rights to take away their choice to experience pleasure from a drug at some point in the future?
- We may be able to make better recreational drugs too. I have carried out research on replacing ethanol in "alcoholic" drinks with a safer alternative, such as a benzodiazepine; ideally these drinks would be impossible to get drunk on, producing a moderate buzz with no increase in effects at higher doses, and could be switched off at the end of the night with a "sober pill".
- We might be able to make alcohol safer by combining it with chemicals that stop it affecting certain receptors. Ideally, we would develop an alcohol that targets just Alpha-2 or 3, giving us the sensation of relaxation and enjoyment without the negative effects.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Mind-reading program translates brain activity into words
"Scientist Brian Pasley
enrolled 15 patients to take part. He played each a series of words for
five to 10 minutes while recording their brain activity from the
electrode nets. He then created computer programs that could recognise
sounds encoded in the brain waves."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/31/mind-reading-program-brain-words
"Jan Schnupp, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University called the work "remarkable".
"Neuroscientists have long believed that the brain works by translating aspects of the external world, such as spoken words, into patterns of electrical activity. But proving that this is true by showing that it is possible to translate these activity patterns back into the original sound – or at least a fair approximation – is nevertheless a great step forward. It paves the way to rapid progress toward biomedical applications," he said.
"Some may worry though that this sort of technology might lead to mind-reading devices which could one day be used to eavesdrop on the privacy of our thoughts. Such worries are unjustified. It is worth remembering that these scientists could only get their technique to work because epileptic patients had cooperated closely and willingly with them, and allowed a large array of electrodes to be placed directly on the surface of their brains."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/31/mind-reading-program-brain-words
"Jan Schnupp, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University called the work "remarkable".
"Neuroscientists have long believed that the brain works by translating aspects of the external world, such as spoken words, into patterns of electrical activity. But proving that this is true by showing that it is possible to translate these activity patterns back into the original sound – or at least a fair approximation – is nevertheless a great step forward. It paves the way to rapid progress toward biomedical applications," he said.
"Some may worry though that this sort of technology might lead to mind-reading devices which could one day be used to eavesdrop on the privacy of our thoughts. Such worries are unjustified. It is worth remembering that these scientists could only get their technique to work because epileptic patients had cooperated closely and willingly with them, and allowed a large array of electrodes to be placed directly on the surface of their brains."
Sunday, January 15, 2012
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