“Nothing will corrode public trust more than a creeping awareness that scientists are unable to live up to the standards that they have set for themselves.” Daniel Sarewitz worries that over-selection and over-reporting of false positive results will increasingly put the value of science into question.
www.nature.com
Tag Archives: data
It’s the end of the web as we know it
“You can turn your back on the social networks that matter in your field and be free and independent running your own site on your own domain. But increasingly that freedom is just the freedom to be ignored, the freedom to starve.” Owing to the exponential growth of social networking, Adrian Short regards the original dream of a common information space to be under threat.
adrianshort.co.uk
Farewell Facebook
“Can I be facebookfriends with my parents? Should I add someone I don’t really know? Will other people think my status update’s funny?”
Joep van Osch
youtube.com
Apple v Google
“Apple’s and Google’s war for the phone in our pockets is the biggest clash since Apple v Microsoft for the space on our desktops” and, according to Robert Lane Greene, likely to impact the way we experience the world around us.
moreintelligentlife.com
Lies, damned lies, and medical science
“I’m not sure that more than a very small percentage of medical research is ever likely to lead to major improvements in clinical outcomes.” David Freedman reports on John Ioannidis and his quest to improve the quality of medical research.
www.theatlantic.com
1.3 million reasons to re-invent the syringe
“25 years ago I read a newspaper article which said that one day syringes would be one of the major causes for the transmission of AIDS. I thought this was unacceptable so I decided to do something about it.” Marc Koska’s K1 syringe improves on an old design.
www.ted.com
Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals
“When we look at the pattern, one thing comes out very clearly. People say HIV is very high in Africa. I would say, HIV is very different in Africa.” Using Gapminder World, Hans Rosling empowers you to think more clearly about the the ways in which HIV impacts on Africa and the wider world.
www.ted.com
Bicycle crash statistics
“Contrary to intuition, cyclists riding on bicycle paths have a higher crash rate than cyclists riding on roads, although not as high a crash rate as cyclists riding on sidewalks.” The Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition looks at crash data for cyclists and reaches valuable and often surprising conclusions.
www.massbike.org
Open formats make history—and maintain it
“Open formats are an important part of computing freedom because they give people control of their own data.” Gervase Markham on why there really is no alternative to open data formats.
business.timesonline.co.uk
RAID-1
The platter that matters
“If I’m right, the next few years are going to see a lot of anguish from computer users who have suddenly realised that hard disk failure involves more than just inconvenience and loss of face”, writes John Naughton.
www.observer.co.uk
A laptop, a coffee, and disaster recovery
“Last week, my laptop died a sudden, spectacular death-by-drowning, as a full cup of coffee poured into its keyboard.” John Locke reflects on the importance of having an effective backup strategy.
www.freesoftwaremagazine.com
Invasion of the identity snatchers
Kelly Martin has become the victim of identity theft. A security professional by trade, he reflects on the many ways that personal data, stored on your computer, can fall into the wrong hands.
www.theregister.co.uk