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Incompetent Research or Corrupt Science?

Ben Goldacre
Guardian.co.uk
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:53 UTC
The same statistical errors - namely, ignoring the "difference in differences" - are appearing throughout the most prestigious journals in neuroscience

Image
© Sam Yeh/Agency France Presse/Getty Images
In a hypothetical trial on two kinds of mice, several tests are needed to prove statistically significant differences.
We all like to laugh at quacks when they misuse basic statistics. But what if academics, en masse, deploy errors that are equally foolish? This week Sander Nieuwenhuis and colleagues publish a mighty torpedo in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

They've identified one direct, stark statistical error so widespread it appears in about half of all the published papers surveyed from the academic neuroscience research literature.

To understand the scale of this problem, first we have to understand the error. This is difficult, and it will take 400 words of pain. At the end, you will understand an important aspect of statistics better than half the professional university academics currently publishing in the field of neuroscience.
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2 + 2 = 4

Study Suggests Auditory Hallucinations Common in Children

John von Radowitz
Herald.ie
Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:22 UTC
Irish researchers have found that up to a fifth of children aged 11 to 13 hear 'voices'.

In most cases, the auditory hallucinations stop with time, the findings show. But children who continue to hear voices could be at risk of mental illness or behavioural disorders.

Researchers carried out psychiatric assessments of almost 2,500 children aged between 11 and 16 in Dublin.

They discovered that 21pc-23pc of younger adolescents, aged 11 to 13, had experienced auditory hallucinations. Just over half were found to have a non-psychotic psychiatric disorder such as depression.

Just 7pc of older adolescents aged 13 to 16 reported hearing voices - but almost 80pc of those who did had adiagnosable psychological problem.

Lead researcher Dr Ian Kelleher, from the Department of Psychiatry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin (RSCI), said: "We found that auditory hallucinations were common even in children as young as 11 years old. Auditory hallucinations can vary from hearing an isolated sentence to hearing 'conversations' lasting for several minutes.
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Alarm Clock

UK Study: Air Pollution Causes Early Deaths

Author
Sciencedaily.com
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:51 UTC
Image
© Steven Barrett
A map plots the distribution of combustion emissions that have migrated into the United Kingdom from the rest of Europe. Higher concentrations, in red, can be found on the outskirts of the country.
In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year.

The researchers analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions in the country, car and truck exhaust was the single greatest contributor to premature death, affecting some 3,300 people per year. By comparison, the researchers note, fewer than 3,000 Britons died in road accidents in 2005.

The researchers found that emissions originating elsewhere in Europe cause an additional 6,000 early deaths in the U.K. annually; U.K. emissions that migrate outside the country, in turn, cause 3,100 premature deaths per year in other European Union nations. In some areas on the periphery of the U.K. - such as northern Scotland - almost all air pollution comes from the rest of Europe, the researchers say.

MIT's Steven Barrett and his co-author Steve Yim began the study in light of recent events in the U.K.: London is currently in violation of air quality standards set by the E.U., and the British government may face significant E.U. fines if it fails to address its air pollution.
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Meteor

New Comet - 2012 HD2

Seiichi Yoshida
Aerith Net
Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:17 UTC
Discovery Date: April 18, 2012

Magnitude: 19.6 mag

Discoverer: J. V. Scotti (Kitt Peak)

Comet 2012 HD2
© Aerith Net
Magnitude Graph

The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2012-H32.
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Info

How Humans Became Masters of the Earth

Wynne Parry
LiveScience
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:10 UTC
Evolution
© imageZebra | Shutterstock
The ability to walk upright, called bipedalism, is a trait associated with the evolution of humans.
New York - Why is it that humans emerged from the natural world, yet we portray ourselves as modifiers of it, even its adversaries?

Paleoanthropologist Rick Potts thinks that fluctuations in the environment in which our ancestors lived were responsible. Our ancestors responded by becoming more versatile through a suite of changes that included an ability to modify our environment. Potts' theory is known as the variability selection hypothesis.

Human ancestors adapted "to novelty and to change itself," he told an audience here at a conference on climate change and human evolution at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory yesterday (April 19).

Our species, Homo sapiens, has existed for a mere 200,000 years, but since our line split from that of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, more than 6 million years ago, global climate has grown increasingly variable, fluctuating between warm and ice-age extremes, but becoming cooler overall.

Our ancestors' East African habitat shifted from forest to savanna, and scientists have long suggested the arrival of the grasslands shaped their evolution.

Aside from the savanna, however, it has been only relatively recent that researchers paid much attention to climate and its effects on environment as an evolutionary force, said Potts, who directs the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program.
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Bomb

Study: Carnivory Equates to Evolutionary Success

Author
Sciencedaily.com
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:21 UTC
Image
© Eduardo Rivero / Fotolia
Image from Hands Cave, World Heritage in Patagonia. Carnivory is behind the evolutionary success of humankind.
Carnivory is behind the evolutionary success of humankind. When early humans started to eat meat and eventually hunt, their new, higher-quality diet meant that women could wean their children earlier. Women could then give birth to more children during their reproductive life, which is a possible contribution to the population gradually spreading over the world. The connection between eating meat and a faster weaning process is shown by a research group from Lund University in Sweden, which compared close to 70 mammalian species and found clear patterns.

Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.

"This has been known for a long time. However, no one has previously shown the strong connection between meat eating and the duration of breast-feeding, which is a crucial piece of the puzzle in this context. Eating meat enabled the breast-feeding periods and thereby the time between births, to be shortened. This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution," says Elia Psouni of Lund University.

Comment: For more information on the benefits of protein and the Paleo diet, see these Sott articles:

Why Is Fattier Grassfed Meat Best?

Red meat halves risk of depression

A Real Paleo Diet - Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats

The Paleo Diet: Should You Eat Like a "Caveman"?

      Read More...
Bomb

Study: Polar Bears Older Than Previously Thought

Author
Rawstory.com
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:27 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Polar bears diverged from their closest relatives 600,000 years ago, far earlier than previously thought, suggesting more challenges in the face of climate change, scientists said.

Previous genetic analysis of polar bears had determined the species was only about 150,000 years old. But in fact, it took them five times longer for the polar bear to adapt to arctic conditions, according to the study by Frank Hailer and colleagues.

In turn, the bears may not have enough time to adjust to a rapidly changing climate, the study suggested.

The earlier studies had focused mainly on mitochondrial or mtDNA, which only accounts for a small portion of the entire genome and is passed from a mother to her offspring. They had concluded that polar bears were a recently evolved type of northern brown bear.
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Question

Mysterious Balancing Rocks Resist Quakes' Shakes

Andrea Mustain
OurAmazingPlanet
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:49 UTC
PBR
© James Brune
A Precariously Balanced Rock, or PBR.

San Diego - In the western San Bernardino Mountains, near the highway that links Los Angeles and Las Vegas, scientists recently discovered a geological mystery: colossal rocks perched in precarious poses right next door to the San Andreas Fault.

It's not the rocks' balancing act that is perplexing, said Lisa Grant Ludwig, a scientist who presented this puzzle to colleagues this week here at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America.

It's how the rocks have managed to stay that way with such an aggressive maker of powerful earthquakes just a few miles away.

Rocks with seemingly acrobatic balance are seen all over the world. Meteorological and geological forces wash away the material around them, leaving the giant rocks balanced like a top.

There's even a term for them: Precariously Balanced Rocks, or PBRs for short, said Ludwig, an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine.

"When you start to get into seismically active areas there are fewer and fewer," Ludwig told OurAmazingPlanet. "And you don't expect to see them right next to active faults - and you don't, generally."
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Beaker

Scientists Create Alternative To DNA

Ian Sample
The Guardian
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:28 UTC
DNA alternative XNA
© Mopic/Alamy
DNA and RNA have been turned into alternative genetic polymers called XNAs by researchers in Cambridge.
Artificial genetic material - XNAs - expected to reveal how molecules first replicated and drive biotechnology research.

Scientists have created artificial genetic material that can store information and evolve over generations in a similar way to DNA - a feat expected to drive research in medicine and biotechnology, and shed light on how molecules first replicated and assembled into life billions of years ago.

Ultimately, the creation of alternatives to DNA could enable scientists to make novel forms of life in the laboratory.

Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, in Cambridge, developed chemical procedures to turn DNA and RNA, the molecular blueprints for all known life, into six alternative genetic polymers called XNAs.

The process swaps the deoxyribose and ribose (the "d" and "r" in DNA and RNA) for other molecules. It was found the XNAs could form a double helix with DNA and were more stable than natural genetic material.
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2 + 2 = 4

Mini-Sensor Measures Magnetic Activity in Human Brain

Author
Sciencedaily.com
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:24 UTC
Image
© Knapp / NIST
NIST's atom-based magnetic sensor, about the size of a sugar cube, can measure human brain activity. Inside the sensor head is a container of 100 billion rubidium atoms (not seen), packaged with micro-optics (a prism and a lens are visible in the center cutout). The light from a low-power infrared laser interacts with the atoms and is transmitted through the grey fiber-optic cable to register the magnetic field strength. The black and white wires are electrical connections.
A miniature atom-based magnetic sensor developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed an important research milestone by successfully measuring human brain activity. Experiments reported this week verify the sensor's potential for biomedical applications such as studying mental processes and advancing the understanding of neurological diseases.

NIST and German scientists used the NIST sensor to measure alpha waves in the brain associated with a person opening and closing their eyes as well as signals resulting from stimulation of the hand. The measurements were verified by comparing them with signals recorded by a SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device). SQUIDs are the world's most sensitive commercially available magnetometers and are considered the "gold standard" for such experiments. The NIST mini-sensor is slightly less sensitive now but has the potential for comparable performance while offering potential advantages in size, portability and cost.

The study results indicate the NIST mini-sensor may be useful in magnetoencephalography (MEG), a noninvasive procedure that measures the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain. MEG is used for basic research on perceptual and cognitive processes in healthy subjects as well as screening of visual perception in newborns and mapping brain activity prior to surgery to remove tumors or treat epilepsy. MEG also might be useful in brain-computer interfaces.
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