Fuzzier Logic » news

Impact factors, Colossus and the Wakefield retraction.

Simon — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:19:28 +0000

(Graphs from The Independent (London), 21 June 2008)

Today was one of those days where lots of interesting stuff turns up. On the BBC, there was 2 very good pieces about the flaws in the scientific process, specifically closed peer review and impact factors.

I also notice that the BBC are running a daily piece about the history of computing in the UK this week, parts one and two have already been published. Today’s article about Colossus is especially good.

Also, after last week’s excellent, and damning, judgement from the GMC -

- regarding Andrew Wakefield’s reprehensible behaviour in his research into the ‘link’ between MMR and autism, today The Lancet finally pulled the paper in which his findings were published 12 years ago. Wakefield et al (1998) (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0) has now been retracted from the public record after the Lancet concluded that the claims made by the researchers were ‘false’ (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2960175-7/fulltext – apologies for paywall).

Posted via email from Simon’s posterous

Wildlife photographer stripped of award

Simon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:21:52 +0000

via news.bbc.co.uk

The winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has been disqualified after judges ruled that the featured wolf was probably a “model”.

It is tough to imagine how you would go about getting this photo of a wild animal. The story given by the photographer on winning the prize was reasonably convincing, however.

Posted via web from Simon’s posterous

Perspective

Simon — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:17:41 +0000

I know these are dooooooom laden times, but seriously BBC, get a grip.

Funding ends, jobs may go shock.

Look, in academia, funding is finite. Sometimes grants end, and people can’t be redeployed. This happens all the time. It’s not national news. Stories like this should not end up in my feed reader.

I think that the media has a lot to answer for as regards the current ‘crisis’. They talked it up so much that it is going to be a lot deeper as a result of the panic they have induced. Stories like this are indicative of the pot-stirring they delight in, and help nobody.