Dealing with Irreproducibility Researchers discuss the growing pressures that are driving increases in retraction rates at AACR. FLICKR, UNIVERSITY OF EXETERRecent years have seen increasing numbers of retractions, higher rates of misconduct and fraud, and general problems of data irreproducibility, spurring the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and others to launch initiatives to improve the quality of research results. Yesterday (April 7), at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting, researchers gathered in San Diego, California, to discuss why these problems to come to a head—and how to fix them. “We really have to change our culture and that will not be easy,” said Lee Ellis from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, referring to the immense pressure researchers often feel to produce splashy results and publish in high-impact journals. C. William Sellers, global head of oncology at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, described a similar experience.
10 Mind-Blowing Theories That Will Change Your Perception of the World Reality is not as obvious and simple as we like to think. Some of the things that we accept as true at face value are notoriously wrong. Scientists and philosophers have made every effort to change our common perceptions of it. 1. Great glaciation is the theory of the final state that our universe is heading toward. 2. Solipsism is a philosophical theory, which asserts that nothing exists but the individual’s consciousness. Don’t you believe me? As a result, which parts of existence can we not doubt? 3. George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. The idea being that if the stone really only exists in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. 4. Everybody has heard of Plato. In addition to this stunning statement, Plato, being a monist, said that everything is made of a single substance. 5. 6. Enternalism is the exact opposite of presentism. 7. So, what is the debate? 8. What’s the point? 9. 10.
Toward a Complex Adaptive Intelligence Community [ Top of page ] What was that? How can we change ourselves in ways we cannot predict? More directly, how do we modify our nature to enable such unpredictable changes? Figure 1 - Complex Adaptive Behavior The only way to meet the continuously unpredictable challenges ahead of us is to match them with continuously unpredictable changes of our own. To describe a community that “dynamically reinvents itself by continuously learning and adapting” in response to environmental changes harks to theoretical developments in the philosophy of science that matured in the 1990s collectively known as Complexity Theory. . . . . . . The objective that was identified at the outset of this article was that the Intelligence Community must be able to dynamically reinvent itself by continuously learning and adapting as the national security environment changes. It is this expertise that engenders the trust required for independent action. The rules themselves are also subject to the wiki process.
More Than Local: How PHE Can Help Solve Humanity’s Biggest Problems “Leave enough for everyone.” That’s what my mother used to tell us at dinner. However, the holiday season reminds me that human nature is far from innately moderate in consumption. With Black Friday as a kickoff, consumers will spend more than $600 billion by Christmas in the United States alone. As I witness droves of shoppers running through malls and stores, I wonder if their desire is driven by some insatiable appetite for their favorite products or something more fundamental about human nature. When access is easy and supply appears unbounded, are we apt to consume without restraint? In an era of globalization, where products often travel thousands of miles before reaching our hands, there exists the dangerous perception that supplies are limitless. But we cannot be lured into this logic forever. Historical Perspectives: Malthusian vs. During the 1970s, neo-Malthusians, such as Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren, continued this line of thought. Unprecedented Global Challenges
How to create magic Oh, Seth. He wrote in “Who has a seat at the table?” this…. “When designing a new product or program, it’s pretty clear that a successful organization will invite:The lawyer, so you don’t break any laws.The CFO, so that you’ll understand how much this thing will cost and how well it will pay off.The CTO/Tech folks, so you’ll spec something that can actually be built and will work.And probably designers, marketers and lobbyists–all the people you need to bring the thing into the world.But where’s the person in charge of magic?In our quest to get it done, to survive the project, to avoid blame, to figure out a solution, it’s magic that gets thrown under the bus every time.Who is obsessed with creating delight, with building in remarkability, with pushing the envelope (every envelope–money, tech, policy) to get to the point where you’ve created something that people will be proud of, that will change things for the better, that will make a dent in the universe? I think Seth is wrong.
The 6 Most Creative Abuses of Loopholes The best way to get away with cheating isn't to avoid getting caught... it's to technically not do anything wrong, and still get all the rewards. That's where you find the line between lawbreakers and those who simply think outside the box... and that line is very thin indeed. Bar Declares Everyone to be Actors to Circumvent Smoking Ban Back in 2007, Minnesota followed a national trend by passing an anti-smoking law that banned smoking in pretty much every public building, including bars. Unfortunately, that was bad news for the bars, because if you're going to get good and drunk to fight off the depression manual labor and seasonal affective disorder brings, you want to get your smoke on, too. Nobody wants to go stand outside to smoke, since in Minnesota it gets cold enough at night that neurons stick open and thoughts freeze in your head. "...or, we could get stoned and play Xbox." "Now can I fucking smoke?" Man Flies Free Thanks to Pudding It really does pay to read the fine print.
Ecological Footprint Quiz The footprint quiz is powered by Adobe Flash. It will only run on devices running Adobe Flash. Sign up for our newsletter What is the Ecological Footprint? What does the Ecological Footprint measure? Global hectares are hectares with world-average productivity for all productive land and water areas in a given year. How accurate are Ecological Footprint measurements? What can Ecological Footprint Analysis tell us about the future of the planet? What is the proper way to use the term Ecological Footprint? How is an Ecological Footprint calculated? The Ecological Footprint of a person is calculated by considering all of the biological materials consumed, and all of the biological wastes generated, by that person in a given year. To accomplish this, an amount of material consumed by that person (tons per year) is divided by the yield of the specific land or sea area (annual tons per hectare) from which it was harvested, or where its waste material was absorbed.
Too Much Protein: Are We Eating Too Much Meat? (INFOGRAPHIC) Meatless Mondays are about to gain in popularity. A recent infographic by grocery delivery program Door To Door Organics, found that Americans eat at least 12 ounces of meat per day, almost 50 per cent more than the recommend daily amount. Not only does meat cost a lot to produce (and even buy), it also hurts our environment. In fact, one 2011 study found eating less meat could double the world's food supply. And that's a lot of meat. But how much is too much? Having trouble finding other alternatives? Loading Slideshow Quinoa A half plate of cooked quinoa is the same as eating one ounce of meat. Hide Thumbnails LOOK: The full infographic: