Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
November 8, 2011
Much Russian news just now from the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic going live today to an ambitious and critical Mars mission which will launch late today (November 8th).
Russia’s last interplanetary launch of a probe to Mars in 1996 failed at launch. Prior to that in missions to the larger of Mars’ 2 moons, Phobos 1 was launched on July 7, 1988 and Phobos 2 on July 12, 1988. Communication with Phobos 1 was lost in September 1988. Phobos 2 operated normally till it was within 50m of the surface of Phobos and again communication was lost in March 1989.
In the meantime the US Mars Rover has operated on Mars for thousands of hours, Chinese and Indian probes have reached the moon and a Japanese probe has brought back some minute quantities of matter from an asteroid. The Russians have been short of financing and are now trying to regain the pre-eminence they once had. To have the Chinese planting flags on the moon in 3 or 4 years would be unbearable.
Russian missions to Mars have never yet been completely successful and the launch on November 8th as part of the Phobos-Grunt (Фобос-Грунт meaning Phobos -soil) project is carrying a great deal of Russian prestige and – more importantly – the future of the Russian space program.
(more…)
Tags:Mars, Mars missions, Phobos, Phobos-Grunt, Russia
Posted in Russia, Science, Space, Technology | 5 Comments »
November 7, 2011
The saga of potential misconduct at the National University of Singapore continues to escalate with further questionable papers regularly being identified by “whistleblowers” to Abnormal Science (Joerg Zwirner).
But the investigations initiated by the University are not totally above criticism especially as Prof. Barry Haliwell the Vice President at the University and responsible for these investigations is himself facing allegations of self-plagiarism and is a co-author on some of the questionable papers. There is an urgent need for some outside participation in the investigations to ensure independence and impartiality. My current perception is that the objective of the investigation will over-ridingly be to save the reputation of the University (any by extension of the government of Singapore) and that the investigation committee will be heavily blinkered. Since the government has effectively been trying to short-cut its way to a scientific reputation by “buying in” researchers, there is little chance that the investigations – as they are set up now – will not be contaminated by government meddling.
As Abnormal Science comments:
A more stringent management of quality and integrity issues in experimental (medical ) research needs to take center stage at NUS. Vice president Prof. Halliwell is in charge of the Office of Research and Technology at NUS, and therefore responsible for driving the University’s research agenda. Unfortunately, he also appears to handle issues related to science integrity at NUS himself. This constellation constitutes an inacceptable accumulation of responsibilities and should be banned since it carries the potential for conflict of interest. Prof. Halliwell, you might want to take a leave of absence from your position as vice president until these issues (including the allegation of self-plagiarism) have been resolved.
Tags:Abnormal Science, National University of Singapore, NUS, Plagiarism, Professor Barry Haliwell, Scientific misconduct, Singapore
Posted in Academic misconduct, Science, scientific misconduct, Singapore | 1 Comment »
November 6, 2011
A very close encounter coming up on Tuesday at 6:28 pm US Eastern time.
(Reuters) – A huge asteroid will pass closer to Earth than the moon Tuesday, giving scientists a rare chance for study without having to go through the time and expense of launching a probe, officials said.
Earth’s close encounter with Asteroid 2005 YU 55 will occur at 6:28 p.m. EST (2328 GMT) Tuesday, as the space rock sails about 201,000 miles from the planet.
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Tags:Asteroid 2005 YU 55, NASA, Near-Earth object
Posted in Astronomy, Science, Space | 2 Comments »
November 5, 2011
There were headlines last week because according to a new paper published in Physical Review Letters it may be that one of the “laws of nature” may vary across the Universe. Observations from two large telescopes pointed in different directions of the universe seem to show that the electromagnetic force which is measured by the fine structure constant, α, may be different in different parts of the universe.
Indications of a spatial variation of the fine structure constant, by J. K. Webb, J. A. King, M. T. Murphy, V. V. Flambaum, R. F. Carswell and M. B. Bainbridge, Phys. Rev. Lett., 107, 191101, 2011, http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.3907
Since the “laws of nature” and the “laws of physics” are merely expressions of observed regularities in our observable time and space they are – of necessity – empirical conclusions. Since we – as yet – have no idea “why” the “laws” we observe should be as they are and why the “fundamental constants” take the values they do, it seems to me unremarkable that there should be areas of time or space (not observed as yet) where these “laws” – as we have formulated them – do not hold exactly. There may well be errors of observation of course but observations made correctly must trump theories and models – no matter how simple or beautiful they might be.
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Tags:Fine-structure constant, Laws of Nature, laws of physics, Variability of laws of nature, Very Large Telescope, W. M. Keck Observatory
Posted in Philosophy, Physics, Science | 1 Comment »
October 31, 2011
Social psychology is going to take a beating over the Diederik Stapel fraud. It provides ample fuel for the view that social psychology is no science but merely the half-baked opinions of narcissists and charlatans. Ego trips and TV appearances have governed the field rather than any scientific rigour.
The interim report of the investigation being carried out by the of Universities of Tilburg and Groningen which started in mid September is now out.
Diederik Stapel
The interim report (in Dutch) is here:
pdf Stapel interim-rapport
The extent of the fraud is breathtaking and the investigation is far from over. At least 30 papers have been found to contain fraudulent data, at least 14 doctoral theses that he supervised are compromised for using fabricated data and in all about 150 papers going back to 2004 are being investigated. Legal action is to be taken. This one is going down in the history books.
(Update! 1st November: Science Insider carries the story here)
Dutch News writes:
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Tags:Diederik Stapel, fraud, Groningen University, Social psychology, Social Sciences, Tilburg University
Posted in Academic misconduct, Ethics, Fraud, psychology, Science, Scientific Fraud, scientific misconduct | 4 Comments »
October 31, 2011
Rossi & Co. announced their nickel-hydrogen fusion reactor back in January and have made regular press releases since then to keep the interest alive. They seem to have gathered a tail of staunch believers and, of course, there is a large body of dis-believers and a smaller group of sceptics.
But they are getting some attention even in business media as with this Forbes article:
On October 28th the biggest test of Rossi’s system, which is called the E-Cat, was conducted in Italy and some results were made public ….. Rossi’s E-Cat is claimed to use a secret catalyst to react hydrogen with nickel and, in the process, transmute the nickel into copper producing considerable heat. Whether this reaction works or not and if it does, exactly how it works, has been enormously contentious and the subject of numerous learned and amateur debates.
(more…)
Tags:Andrea Rossi, Cold Fusion, E-cat, fraud, Fusion power, Sergio Focardi, University of Bologna
Posted in Fraud, Physics, Science, Scientific Fraud | 2 Comments »
October 20, 2011
Skeletons seem to be tumbling out of the Singapore academic closet thick and fast as one allegation follows hot on the heels of the last. Previous revelations are here, and here.
1. Abnormal Science reports that another whistleblower has appeared and has pointed out image irregularities (image manipulations?) in two more publications, both from the Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore. Abnormal Science.
2. From the Straits Times (h/t as pointed out by an Abnormal Science reader) it is reported that a famous cancer scientist in Singapore is having his work challenged. If Prof. Yoshiaki Ito’s work is found to be flawed then some 200 other publications based on his results would be thrown into doubt.
The Times article is behind a pay wall but Asia News Net carries the article (more…)
Tags:Abnormal Science, Agency for Science Technology and Research, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Weizmann Institute of Science, Yoram Groner, Yoshiaki Ito
Posted in Academic misconduct, Ethics, Science, scientific misconduct, Singapore | 2 Comments »
October 18, 2011
This is a very strange tale of a prestigious Italian bio-medical Research Institute, a strange priest, tons of money, huge debts, corruption, a suicide, the Vatican and – of course – links to Berlusconi.
It reads like a film script and a subject worthy of a Dan Brown blockbuster.
Alison Abbott writes in Nature:
One of Italy’s most prestigious biomedical research centres now faces bankruptcy, against a backdrop of rumours fed by intrigue among power-brokers, allegations of fraud and corruption, and a violent death. Next week, a court will decide whether to leave the Milan-based San Raffaele Scientific Institute to its fate, or allow a consortium led by the Vatican Bank to rescue it. (more…)
Tags:Da Vinci Code, Giuseppe Profiti, Italy, Luigi Maria Verzé, Mario Cal, San Raffaele, San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation, San Raffaele Research Institute, Silvio Berlusconi, Vatican
Posted in Academic misconduct, Behaviour, Corruption, Italy, Politics, Science | Comments Off on The strange story of the San Raffaele Research Institute, Don Verzé, the Vatican, corruption and a suicide!
October 18, 2011
Perhaps this was one of the critical genetic traits which – in evolutionary terms – helped humans separate from the apes and power ahead to be the leading species on the planet. It is not difficult to imagine that a “cooperation” gene or a “motivation to cooperate” gene – if such a thing exists – could have resulted in a number of “downstream” needs (for communication, language, artefacts, complex social organisations, arts and science) which in turn selected for and influenced the development of the traits which distinguish anatomically modern humans from other primates.
A new paper from the Max Planck Institutes in Leipzig and Nijmegen:
Yvonne Rekers, Daniel B.M. Haun and Michael Tomasello. Children, but Not Chimpanzees, Prefer to Collaborate. Current Biology, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.066
Summary
Human societies are built on collaborative activities. Already from early childhood, human children are skillful and proficient collaborators. They recognize when they need help in solving a problem and actively recruit collaborators.
The societies of other primates are also to some degree cooperative. Chimpanzees, for example, engage in a variety of cooperative activities such as border patrols, group hunting, and intra- and intergroup coalitionary behavior. Recent studies have shown that chimpanzees possess many of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for human-like collaboration. Chimpanzees have been shown to recognize when they need help in solving a problem and to actively recruit good over bad collaborators. However, cognitive abilities might not be all that differs between chimpanzees and humans when it comes to cooperation. Another factor might be the motivation to engage in a cooperative activity. Here, we hypothesized that a key difference between human and chimpanzee collaboration—and so potentially a key mechanism in the evolution of human cooperation—is a simple preference for collaborating (versus acting alone) to obtain food. Our results supported this hypothesis, finding that whereas children strongly prefer to work together with another to obtain food, chimpanzees show no such preference.
Highlights
- ► First study comparing collaborative motivation between children and chimpanzees
- ► Children, but not chimpanzees, prefer collaborative over individual food acquisition
- ► Motivation might be one key factor in the evolution of human-like cooperation
Science Daily:
Researchers from the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the MPI for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen have now discovered that when all else is equal, human children prefer to work together in solving a problem, rather than solve it on their own. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, show no such preference according to a study of 3-year-old German kindergarteners and semi-free ranging chimpanzees, in which the children and chimps could choose between a collaborative and a non-collaboration problem-solving approach. ….
The research team presented 3-year-old German children and chimpanzees living in a Congo Republic sanctuary with a task that they could perform on their own or with a partner. Specifically, they could either pull two ends of a rope themselves in order to get a food reward or they could pull one end while a companion pulled the other. The task was carefully controlled to ensure there were no obvious incentives for the children or chimpanzees to choose one strategy over the other. “In such a highly controlled situation, children showed a preference to cooperate; chimpanzees did not,” Haun points out.
The children cooperated more than 78 percent of the time compared to about 58 percent for the chimpanzees. These statistics show that the children actively chose to work together, while chimps appeared to choose between their two options randomly. ….. Future work should compare cooperative motivation across primate species in an effort to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the trait. …..
Tags:Child, Chimpanzee, Collaboration, cooperation, cooperation gene, Max Planck Institute, Motivation
Posted in Behaviour, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on Humans prefer to cooperate, chimps don’t
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