# life: dear Mr. Donald, fuzzy evidence should be sharper, sooner or later, by Nature

       Nature | 637 | 16 Jan 2025 | 517

<< Mr President-elect, science is a self-correcting process in which bad actors and wrong ideas sooner or later get rooted out and fuzzy evidence becomes sharper. That is the joy and the beauty of the method that has made the modern world what it is. >>️

Editorial. Dear Donald Trump: A letter from Nature on how to make science thrive. Nature 637, 517. Jan 15, 2025.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00050-1

Also: Mr. Donald, forms of power, virus, sars* covid* (aka 1or2achoos), dance, are you ready for all this, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Also: A new exception within the FDA Cures Act Informed Consent, the intriguing concept of 'Minimal Risk Clinical Investigations'. FonT. Feb 1, 2024. 

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2024/02/life-new-exception-within-fda-cures-act.html 

Also: 'acad' in FonT https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=acad    in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry) https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=acad 

Keywords: life, Mr. Donald, forms of power, virus, sars, covid, 1or2achoos, acad, dance, are you ready

# ecol: mycological jazz

<< "Mycological" draws conceptually from fungal networks in forests and their interactions. Inspired by the work of ecologist Suzanne Simard, author Michael Pollan, and mycologist Paul Stamets; Krolak saw many parallels between biological networks and the social network known as jazz, as well as, the acoustic networks created when musicians interact through their instruments. Aesthetically, the work is of the free and avant-garde traditions of jazz. Drawing inspiration from John Coltrane to Sonny Sharrock to Makaya McCraven, Krolak seeks to create a space for various elements to play out and find their own connections. >>

Mycological By Nicholas Krolak. All About Jazz. Jan 8, 2022. 

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/media/track-mycological-by-nicholas-krolak

Also

Apropos of 'mycological jazz', a old  perplexity of mine, who knows why substantial funds were no longer allocated to sci research on viruses, bacteria, fungi (..) and their ecological 'jazzy interactions' ... ? 😏

keyword 'virus' | 'bacteria' | 'fungi' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=virus

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=bacteria

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=fungi

Also

Much of intelligence (quasi-stochastic poetry). Notes. Dec 16, 2005.

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2005/12/1929-much-of-intelligence.html

keyword 'jazz' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=jazz

keyword 'jazz' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry):

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=jazz

Keywords: jazz, viruses, bacteria, fungi, interactions, acad, scires, funds

# acad: oops! published papers in top psychology, economics, and science journals that fail to replicate are cited more than those that replicate.

<< Papers in leading psychology, economic and science journals that fail to replicate and therefore are less likely to be true are often the most cited papers in academic research, >>

The study << explores the ongoing "replication crisis" in which researchers have discovered that many findings in the fields of social sciences and medicine don't hold up when other researchers try to repeat the experiments. The paper reveals that findings from studies that cannot be verified when the experiments are repeated have a bigger influence over time. The unreliable research tends to be cited as if the results were true long after the publication failed to replicate. >>

<< We also know that experts can predict well which papers will be replicated, (..) Given this prediction, we ask 'why are non-replicable papers accepted for publication in the first place?' >> Marta Serra-Garcia.

<< Their possible answer is that review teams of academic journals face a trade-off. When the results are more "interesting," they apply lower standards regarding their reproducibility. >>

<< Interesting or appealing findings are also covered more by media or shared on platforms like Twitter, generating a lot of attention, but that does not make them true, >> Uri Gneezy.️

A new replication crisis: Research that is less likely to be true is cited more. 

University of California - San Diego. May 21, 2021. 

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-replication-crisis-true-cited.html 

<< Only 12% of postreplication citations of nonreplicable findings acknowledge the replication failure. >>

️

Marta Serra-Garcia, Uri Gneezy. Nonreplicable publications are cited more than replicable ones. Science Advances. Vol. 7, no. 21, eabd1705

doi: 10.1126/ sciadv.abd1705. May 21,  2021.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/21/eabd1705 

Also

keyword 'oops' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=oops

# acad: apropos of pulsating, nomadic entities; to generate and manage 'theories and vagrant thoughts', by Isaac

<< Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve common factors. We are most interested in the “creation” of a new scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be general here. >>

Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?". A 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity. Oct 20, 2014.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/amp/

https://twitter.com/techreview/status/1147256914016964608

# acad: oops! the scientific world is abuzz ... scientists first and foremost should "embrace uncertainty" and "be thoughtful, open and modest." ...

<< The scientific world is abuzz following recommendations by two of the most prestigious scholarly journals – The American Statistician and Nature – that the term "statistical significance" be retired. In their introduction to the special issue of The American Statistician on the topic, the journal’s editors urge "moving to a world beyond 'p<0.05,'" the famous 5 percent threshold for determining whether a study’s result is statistically significant.  (..) scientists first and foremost should "embrace uncertainty" and "be thoughtful, open and modest." >>

Valen E. Johnson.  Is it the end of 'statistical significance'? The battle to make science more uncertain. Texas A&M University. April 1, 2019.
 
http://theconversation.com/is-it-the-end-of-statistical-significance-the-battle-to-make-science-more-uncertain-114161  

Ronald L. Wasserstein, Allen L. Schirm,   Nicole A. Lazar. Moving to a World Beyond "p < 0.05". Am Statistician. Pages 1-19  Mar 20,  2019. doi: 10.1080/ 00031305.2019.1583913

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00031305.2019.1583913

Scientists rise up against statistical significance. Valentin Amrhein, Sander Greenland, Blake McShane and more than 800 signatories call for an end to hyped claims and the dismissal of possibly crucial effects. Nature. COMMENT. Mar 20, 2019.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00857-9  

# acad aibot: the real success (also) in scientific research: the automatic search for deviations ...

<< Imagine that you have a lot of data, but you do not really know what you are looking for. So what do you do? In that case you use a computer that automatically searches for deviations. >>

Search engine for new breakthroughs in physics. Radboud University.  Feb 19, 2019

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-02-breakthroughs-physics.html

M. Aaboud, G. Aad, et al. A strategy for a general search for new phenomena using data-derived signal regions and its application within the ATLAS experiment. The European Physical Journal C (2019). doi: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6540-y

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140%2Fepjc%2Fs10052-019-6540-y

# acad: la caotica visione di Cedric, matematico.

<< il bello viene adesso (..) Uniremo élite e popolo >>  Cedric Villani.

# n-soc: prospettiche meta- geometriche meta- fusioni, by Cedric. 19 Maggio 2017

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2017/05/n-soc-prospettiche-meta-geometriche.html

<< Pour leur acte 13, les "gilets jaunes" ont de nouveau prévu plusieurs rassemblements dans le pays.
Selon un sondage YouGov diffusé jeudi, près de deux Français sur trois (64 %) continuent de "soutenir" le mouvement des "gilets jaunes", soit deux points de plus en un mois, et 77 % (+3) jugent leur mobilisation justifiée. >>

"Gilets jaunes" Acte 13. Des cortèges à Lyon, Nice, Marseille, La Roche-sur-Yon... Un blessé grave et 10 interpellations à Paris... 09/02/2019  19H15

https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2447059-20190209-gilets-jaunes-acte-13-direct-suivez-acte-13-mobilisation-direct

# acad: oops! 78.1% of biomed. sci. studies use only parametric tests ...

<< Transparent reporting is essential for the critical evaluation of studies. However, the reporting of statistical methods for studies in the biomedical sciences is often limited. >>

<< Nonparametric tests, such as the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon sign rank test and Kruskal Wallis test, may sometimes be preferable as sample sizes in basic biomedical science research are often too small to determine the data distribution. However, these tests are not commonly used. A systematic review of physiology studies showed that 3.8% used only non-parametric tests to compare continuous data, 13.6% used a combination of parametric and non-parametric tests, and 78.1% of studies used only parametric tests >>

Tracey L. Weissgerber, Oscar Garcia-Valencia, et al. Meta-Research: Why we need to report more than 'Data were Analyzed by t-tests or ANOVA'. eLife 2018; 7:e36163. Dec 21, 2018 doi: 10.7554/eLife.36163

https://elifesciences.org/articles/36163   

# acad: producing better research from diversity.

<< Improving the participation of under-represented groups is not just fairer - it could produce better research. >>

<< some studies suggest that a team with a good mix of perspectives is associated with increased productivity. >>

Editorial. Science benefits from diversity. Nature 558, 5 (2018). Jun 6. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-05326-3

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05326-3 

Kendall Powell. These labs are remarkably diverse -  here’s why they’re winning at science. Nature 558, 19-22 (2018) Jun 6. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-05316-5.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05316-5

# acad: oops! Hindu tales break into a scientific Congress

<< G. Nageswara Rao, a vice-chancellor at Andhra University in southern India, used stories from Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata as proof the people of ancient India had aircraft, test-tube babies and that stem-cell research "was done in this country thousands of years ago". >>

<< The annual Indian Science Congress, which this year ran over five days at a university in northern Punjab state, ended on Monday. >>

Indian scientists protest congress speakers discrediting works of Newton, Einstein. Mumbai (Reuters). Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Alison Williams.  Jan 7, 2019.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-india-science/indian-scientists-protest-congress-speakers-discrediting-works-of-newton-einstein-idUKKCN1P11XT

<< "Hindu Lord Vishnu used guided missiles known as 'Vishnu Chakra' and chased moving targets," added the professor of inorganic chemistry. >>

Indian scientists slam ancient Hindu 'stem cell' claim. Jan 6, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-01-indian-scientists-slam-ancient-hindu.html

FonT

gli argomenti del prof di chimica inorganica mi hanno fatto venire in mente certe teorie circa gli "Antichi Astronauti"

https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teoria_degli_antichi_astronauti

# acad: oops! a database of more than 18,000 retracted scientific papers and conference abstracts has been released

<< Nearly a decade ago, headlines highlighted a disturbing trend in science: The number of articles retracted by journals had increased 10-fold during the previous 10 years. >>

<<  It is not a perfect window into the world of retractions. Not all publishers, for instance, publicize or clearly label papers they have retracted, or explain why they did so. And determining which author is responsible for a paper's fatal flaws can be difficult. >>

Jeffrey Brainard, Jia You. What a massive database of retracted papers reveals about science publishing's 'death penalty'. Science. Oct. 25, 2018

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/what-massive-database-retracted-papers-reveals-about-science-publishing-s-death-penalty

Searchable database of more than 18,000 retracted papers and conference abstracts dating back to the 1970s

http://retractiondatabase.org/RetractionSearch.aspx?

the blog Retraction Watch, by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus.

https://retractionwatch.com/

# acad: oops! No PhD will be necessary to build artificial intelligence algorithms

<< OVER THE past five years researchers in artificial intelligence have become the rock stars of the technology world (..) The top names can earn over $1m a year. (..) The standard route into these jobs has been a PhD in computer science from one of America’s elite universities. (..) That is changing. This month fast.ai, an education non-profit based in San Francisco, kicked off the third year of its course in deep learning. (..) The course and others like it come with a simple proposition: there is no need to spend years obtaining a PhD in order to practise deep learning. (..) Fast.ai’s course can be completed in just seven weeks. >>

No PhD, no problem. New schemes teach the masses to build AI. Oct 25,  2018.

https://www.economist.com/business/2018/10/27/new-schemes-teach-the-masses-to-build-ai

More

http://www.fast.ai/

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2018/06/ai-open-source-ai-projects.html

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=linux

# acad: oops! half of all EU trials are non-compliant

<< Of 7274 trials where results were due, 49.5% (95% confidence interval 48.4% to 50.7%) reported results. >>

<< Compliance with the European Commission requirement for all trials to post results on to the EUCTR [EU Clinical Trials Register] within 12 months of completion has been poor, with half of all trials non-compliant. >>

Ben Goldacre, Nicholas J DeVito, et al. Compliance with requirement to report results on the EU Clinical Trials Register: cohort study and web resource. BMJ 2018;362:k3218. Sep 12, 2018.

https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3218

<< "chaos, rather than malice" is behind academics’ poor reporting of trial results. >> Ben Goldacre

Inga Vesper. Europe’s academics fail to report results for 90% of clinical trials. But nearly 70% of industry-sponsored trials report their results within a year of ending. Nature doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-06676-8 Sep 13, 2018.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06676-8

# acad: the 2nd MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award

<< Nominations are now open for the second MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award, which carries a 250,000 USD cash prize, no strings attached. This award will go to a person or group engaged in what we believe is an extraordinary example of disobedience for the benefit of society: work that impacts society in positive ways, and is consistent with a set of key principles, including nonviolence, creativity, courage, and responsibility for one’s actions. >>

https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/disobedience-award/  

FonT

che mat-tachioni questi MITiani ...

# acad: when the academy pays the worst better

<< The vice-chancellors of some of the country’s worst performing universities are among the highest paid, a study has found. >>

<< In contrast, many of the heads of institutions with higher league table rankings are paid less. >>

Claire Duffin. How worst universities give their chiefs bumper salaries. Daily Mail. Jan 1, 2018.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20180101/281840054047672

Also

Susan Adams. The Highest-Paid CEOs Are The Worst Performers, New Study Says. Jun 16, 2014.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/06/16/the-highest-paid-ceos-are-the-worst-performers-new-study-says/#51fcef407e32

FonT

questa news la devo a mia moglie Tamara, anche lei curiosa e tenace  nomade di labirinti ...

# acad: oops! when a big research (MACH15 clinical study, funded by several million dollars) can go wrong

<< The National Institutes of Health plans to end funding to the Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health (MACH) trial. The decision is based on concerns about the study design that cast doubt on its ultimate credibility.  >>

NIH to end funding for Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health trial. Jun 15, 2018.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-end-funding-moderate-alcohol-cardiovascular-health-trial   

<< last month, the National Institutes of Health took the unusual step of shutting down one of its own clinical trials - a $100 million dollar experiment gone wrong. The announcement followed an internal investigation, prompted by a dogged New York Times report, that uncovered inappropriate interactions between the alcohol industry (Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, and others) and the NIAAA in the execution of MACH15. >>

Jeremy Samuel Faust. A Major Industry-Funded Alcohol Study Was Compromised. How Many Others Are Out There?  The most salient takeaway from the collapse of the MACH15 trial is that the conflicts of interest at its core are probably not as rare as we think. Jul 13, 2018

https://undark.org/article/mach15-alcohol-nih-industry-funding

# acad: Prometheus vs Pandora interplay

<< Some of the most important rules we need to discover are about how to use technology and, just as importantly, how not to use it. >>

<< The great institutional economist Clarence Ayres wrote about how technology becomes incorporated into our lives in a way that is roughly equivalent to the way tribal societies use totems to interact with each other. >>

<< Every inventor is both a Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, and a Pandora unwittingly releasing a swarm of potential evils on the world. The competition of ideas between hype and doomsaying allows us to discover helpful rules which deal with both. >>

<< Technology doesn't come with a ready-made rulebook for how to use it. We have to discover this in a process of trial, error and argument. And for this the doomsayer is just as vital as the visionary. >>

Brendan Markey-Towler. Doomsaying about new technology helps make it better. Jun 21, 2018.

https://theconversation.com/doomsaying-about-new-technology-helps-make-it-better-98623  

# acad: the matthew effect vs perpetual novelties

<< Why do scientists with similar backgrounds and abilities often end up achieving very different degrees of success? A classic explanation is that academic achievement exhibits a “Matthew effect”: Early successes increase future success chances.>>

AA << results show that winners just above the funding threshold accumulate more than twice as much funding during the subsequent eight years as nonwinners with near-identical review scores that fall just below the threshold. >>

Thijs Bol, Mathijs de Vaan, and Arnout van de Rijt. The Matthew effect in science funding. PNAS May 8, 2018. 115 (19) 4887-90. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1719557115.

http://www.pnas.org/content/115/19/4887

Sam Zuckerman. How success breeds success in the sciences. University of California, Berkeley. Apr 27, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-04-success-sciences.html

FonT

the "Matthew effect" esteso nel qualsivoglia contesto (vale a dire: rendita di posizione stabile, carriera professionale certa, esercizio del potere di cooptazione, accesso privilegiato a risorse pubbliche e private) vs (ipotetiche entita' AI.qu.cpu autonome, costo base 10-100 usd, emivita 10y) ... come si auto giustifichera' lo status di una futura classe dirigente? Sara' sufficiente il conforto, l'appoggio sottotraccia della "famiglia",  la disponibilita' alla sottomissione/ compromesso "a prescindere", l'eventuali abilita' di chiacchera e visibilita' sui media per stabilizzarne il potere?

# brain: about creativity in musical improvisation

<< a model of creativity as a combination of generative and reactive processes that coordinate their functions to give rise to perpetually novel and aesthetically rewarding improvised musical output >>

Loui P. Ann. Rapid and flexible creativity in musical improvisation: review and a model. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2018 Mar 25. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13628.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29577331/ 

https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nyas.13628 

# game: a hypothesis to test a generic "generous tit-for-tat" approach to manage a self-catalytic (a cascade of period-doubling bifurcation) social transition dynamics

<< "La grande opportunità (..) è quella di tentare una 'mossa del cavallo': una scelta inaspettata, spiazzante, al limite del temerario" >>

che proponga  << un governo con gli elementi portanti del proprio programma, la cui guida sia affidata a una personalità fuori dei partiti, che scelga ministri tutti della società civile >>

"Modello Zagrebelsky per convincere il Pd". Intervista a Paolo Flores d’Arcais. Mar 11, 2018.

http://m.huffingtonpost.it/2018/03/11/modello-zagrebelsky-per-convincere-il-pd-intervista-a-paolo-flores-d-arcais_a_23382569/

<< Adding "generous tit-for-tat" greatly increases the overall level of cooperation and can lead to long periods of steady cooperation >>

Nowak M, Sigmund K. Chaos and the evolution of cooperation.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1993; 90 (11): 5091-4. Jun 1, 1993.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8506355/

Also

<< The former child prodigy is 20 &wise beyond her years! @mohinidey17 talks to me of “when the person goes deeper than the technique” >> Jan 2, 2018

https://youtu.be/hbcW7nxcP3E

https://twitter.com/HrishiKay/status/948038183656103936

Also

<< Amico,  qualunque  cosa suonerai ... >>

2113 - soniche a ramulo. Jan 28, 2007.

http://inkpi.blogspot.it/2007/01/2113-soniche-ramulo.html