A recent survey about sexual assault on university campuses was criticised as being unethical. So what is the right way to go about conducting such research?
Three stories about researchers who have dabbled in self-experimentation – with varying results.
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How to wipe out science fraud.
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Controversy over a Chinese study that used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology shows how the West still looks at the East through the lens of Orientalism.
Experiment design affects the quality of the results.
IAEA Seibersdorf Historical Images
Embracing more rigorous scientific methods would mean getting science right more often than we currently do. But the way we value and reward scientists makes this a challenge.
Who’s in charge once your biological material is out of your body?
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Next-generation genomic research depends on study participants sharing their biological materials with scientists. But concerns over how that information is protected may hold some people back.
The concept of benefit sharing ensures that all who take part in research have sone form of gain from it.
It’s a problem when much of what winds up in scientific journals isn’t replicable, for various reasons. The research community is taking baby steps toward addressing the “reproducibility crisis.”
How can researchers be their own guardian?
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What are the pressures on researchers that could lead to misrepresentation of facts? Do the “guardians need a guard”?
The Nazis subjected Jews, political prisoners and other ‘undesirables’ to a range of experiments that resulted in death and disability.
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The horror of the human experiments by Nazi doctors led to the Nuremberg Code but the international declaration it inspired was watered down for political purposes.
On Human Experiments: what lies behind some of the most shocking human experiments in recent history? Here’s a clue: most of it took place during wartime or when war seemed like a real threat.
An artist’s impression: MESSENGER flying over a colourful Mercury.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
It was the first probe to find water on Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Its mission nearly over, MESSENGER is about to crash into the planet it’s been observing.
Research ethics panels could benefit from more people with skin in the game.
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If all researchers were required to serve time on an ethics committee, not only would the system look entirely different, human research subjects might get greater protection.
Evaluations of research ethics do not benefit from a tick-box approach.
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The evolution of science and engineering in the 21st century has transformed the role of these professions in profound ways that affect research, scholarship and the practice of teaching in the university…
Do all authors listed on any published work actually contribute to the research?
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The research excellence of academics is often measured by the quantity and quality of their scholarly publications. But how do we know that all authors listed on a publication have actually been involved…