Two more cases of hype in glamour journals: magnets, cocoa and memory
This study was promoted by the Northwestern University "Electric current to brain boosts memory". And Science tweeted along the same lines.
Science‘s link did not lead to the paper, but rather to a puff piece, "Rebooting memory with magnets". Again all the emphasis was on memory, with the usual entirely speculative stuff about helping Alzheimer’s disease. But the paper itself was behind Science‘s paywall. You couldn’t read it unless your employer subscribed to Science.
All the publicity led to much retweeting and a big altmetrics score. Given that the paper was...
Source: DC's goodscience - November 2, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia altmetrics Alzheimer's Bad journalism badscience false discovery rate public engagement Public relations Public understanding publishing randomisation randomization RCT science communication cocoa false positives h Source Type: blogs
The Saatchi bill won’t find a cure for cancer, but it will encourage charlatans
Jump to follow-up
Maurice Nathan Saatchi, Baron Saatchi is an advertising man who, with his brother, Charles Saatchi ("‘why tell the truth when a good lie will do?), became very rich by advertising cigarettes and the Conservative party. After his second wife died of cancer he introduced a private members bill in the House of Lords in 2012. The Medical Innovation Bill came back to the Lords for its second reading on 24 October 2014.
The debate was deeply depressing: very pompous and mostly totally uninformed. You would never have guessed that the vast majority of those who understand the problem are a...
Source: DC's goodscience - October 24, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: business CAM cancer Cancer act Saatchi Bill alternative medicine antiscience badscience Source Type: blogs
The Saatchi bill won’t find a cure for cancer, but it will encourage charlatans
Jump to follow-up
Maurice Nathan Saatchi, Baron Saatchi is an advertising man who, with his brother, Charles Saatchi ("‘why tell the truth when a good lie will do?), became very rich by advertising cigarettes and the Conservative party. After his second wife died of cancer he introduced a private members bill in the House of Lords in 2012. The Medical Innovation Bill came back to the Lords for its second reading on 24 October 2014.
The debate was deeply depressing: very pompous and mostly totally uninformed. You would never have guessed that the vast majority of those who understand the problem are a...
Source: DC's goodscience - October 24, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: business CAM cancer Cancer act Saatchi Bill alternative medicine antiscience badscience Source Type: blogs
UCL’s senior common room and the Boston marathon: emancipation in the 1960s, and now
Jump to follow-up
I have always been insanely proud to work at UCL. My first job was as an assistant lecturer. The famous pharmacologist, Heinz Otto Schild gave me that job in 1964, and apart from nine years, I have been there ever since. That’s 50 years. I love its godless tradition. I love its multi-faculty nature. And I love its relatively democratic ways (with rare exceptions).
From the start, the intellectual heart of UCL has been the staff Common Room. As I so often say, failing to waste time drinking coffee with people who are cleverer than yourself can seriously damage your career (and your happiness). ...
Source: DC's goodscience - August 25, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: A.V. Hill UCL University College London Academia Brian Woledge emancipation Fields medal Housman Kathleen Lonsdale Kathy Switzer marathon Maryam Mirzakhani Paula Radcliffe Rosi Sexton Universities Source Type: blogs
UCL’s senior common room and the Boston marathon: emancipation in the 1960s, and now
I have always been insanely proud to work at UCL. My first job was as an assistant lecturer. The famous pharmacologist, Heinz Otto Schild gave me that job in 1964, and apart from nine years, I have been there ever since. That’s 50 years. I love its godless tradition. I love its multi-faculty nature. And I love its relatively democratic ways (with rare exceptions).
From the start, the intellectual heart of UCL has been the staff Common Room. As I so often say, failing to waste time drinking coffee with people who are cleverer than yourself can seriously damage your career (and your happiness). And there’s ...
Source: DC's goodscience - August 25, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: A.V. Hill UCL University College London Academia Brian Woledge emancipation Fields medal Housman Kathleen Lonsdale Kathy Switzer marathon Maryam Mirzakhani Paula Radcliffe Rosi Sexton Universities Source Type: blogs
Some more pharmacological history: the legend of the Brocken and the statistics of purity in heart
This post follows directly from "Some pharmacological history: an exam from 1959". In that post, I related how two of my teachers in Leeds, James Dare and George Mogey, had encouraged my interest in statistcs. George Mogey had worked previously at the famous Wellcome Research Labs in Beckenham, Kent. He had been there at the same time as J.W. Trevan, who pioneered accurate methods of biological assay.
Another person who overlapped with Mogey and Trevan at Beckenham was C.L. Oakley. I’m told by Audrey Mogey, George’s widow, that they were good friends of the Oakleys and that probably explains why Georg...
Source: DC's goodscience - August 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Bioassay George Mogey J.W. Trevan Wellcome Labs Beckenham C.L. Oakley He-goats into young men Probits The Brocken Wellcome Lab Beckenham Source Type: blogs
Some more pharmacological history: the legend of the Brocken and the statistics of purity in heart
This post follows directly from "Some pharmacological history: an exam from 1959". In that post, I related how two of my teachers in Leeds, James Dare and George Mogey, had encouraged my interest in statistcs. George Mogey had worked previously at the famous Wellcome Research Labs in Beckenham, Kent. He had been there at the same time as J.W. Trevan, who pioneered accurate methods of biological assay.
Another person who overlapped with Mogey and Trevan at Beckenham was C.L. Oakley. I’m told by Audrey Mogey, George’s widow, that they were good friends of the Oakleys and that probably explains why Georg...
Source: DC's goodscience - August 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Bioassay George Mogey J.W. Trevan Wellcome Labs Beckenham C.L. Oakley He-goats into young men Probits The Brocken Wellcome Lab Beckenham Source Type: blogs
What is meant by the "accuracy" of screening tests?
The two posts on this blog about the hazards of s=ignificance testing have proved quite popular. See Part 1: the screening problem, and Part 2: Part 2: the false discovery rate. They’ve had over 20,000 hits already (though I still have to find a journal that will print the paper based on them).
Yet another Alzheiner’s screening story hit the headlines recently and the facts got sorted out in the follow up section of the screening post. If you haven’t read that already, it might be helpful to do so before going on to this post.
This post has already appeared on the Sense about Science web site. They aske...
Source: DC's goodscience - July 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Alzheimer's epidemiology Screening statistics accuracy sensitivity specificity Source Type: blogs
Should metrics be used to assess research performance? A submission to HEFCE
Conclusion
There is no good evidence that any metric measures quality, at least over the short time span that’s needed for them to be useful for giving grants or deciding on promotions). On the other hand there is good evidence that use of metrics provides a strong incentive to bad behaviour, both by scientists and by journals. They have already started to damage the public perception of science of the honesty of science.
The conclusion is obvious. Metrics should not be used to judge academic performance.
What should be done?
If metrics aren’t used, how should assessment be done? Roderick Floud...
Source: DC's goodscience - June 18, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia metrics Research Councils Research Funding altmetrics assessment bibliometrics Source Type: blogs
Should metrics be used to assess research performance? A submission to HEFCE
Conclusion
There is no good evidence that any metric measures quality, at least over the short time span that’s needed for them to be useful for giving grants or deciding on promotions). On the other hand there is good evidence that use of metrics provides a strong incentive to bad behaviour, both by scientists and by journals. They have already started to damage the public perception of science of the honesty of science.
The conclusion is obvious. Metrics should not be used to judge academic performance.
What should be done?
If metrics aren’t used, how should assessment be done? Roderick Floud...
Source: DC's goodscience - June 18, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia metrics Research Councils Research Funding altmetrics assessment bibliometrics Source Type: blogs
Bad financial management at Kings College London means VC Rick Trainor is firing 120 scientists
This article, by Bruce Alberts, Marc W. Kirschner, Shirley Tilghman, and Harold Varmus, should be read by everyone. They observe that ” . . . little has been done to reform the system, primarily because it continues to benefit more established and hence more influential scientists”. I’d be more impressed by the senior people at Kings if they spent time trying to improve the system rather than firing people because their research is not sufficiently expensive.
10 June 2014
Progress on the cull, according to an anonymous correspondent
“The omnishambles that is KCL management
1) We were told we woul...
Source: DC's goodscience - June 7, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia assessment HEFCE management bollocks managerialism metrics Rick Trainor science UUK Anne Greenough bibliometrics Karen O’Brien Robert Lechler Shitij Kapur Simon Howell Universities UK vice-chancellors Source Type: blogs
Bad financial management at Kings College London means VC Rick Trainor is firing 120 scientists
This article, by Bruce Alberts, Marc W. Kirschner, Shirley Tilghman, and Harold Varmus, should be read by everyone. They observe that ” . . . little has been done to reform the system, primarily because it continues to benefit more established and hence more influential scientists”. I’d be more impressed by the senior people at Kings if they spent time trying to improve the system rather than firing people because their research is not sufficiently expensive.
10 June 2014
Progress on the cull, according to an anonymous correspondent
“The omnishambles that is KCL management
1) We were told we woul...
Source: DC's goodscience - June 7, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia assessment HEFCE management bollocks managerialism metrics Rick Trainor science UUK Anne Greenough bibliometrics Karen O’Brien Robert Lechler Shitij Kapur Simon Howell Universities UK vice-chancellors Source Type: blogs
Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: a review
This is a web version of a review of Peter Gotzsche’s book. It appeared in the April 2014 Healthwatch Newsletter. Read the whole newsletter. It has lots of good stuff. Their newsletters are here. Healthwatch has been exposing quackery since 1989. Their very first newsletter is still relevant.
Most new drugs and vaccines are developed by the pharmaceutical industry. The industry has produced huge benefits for mankind. But since the Thatcherite era it has come to be dominated by marketing people who appear to lack any conscience. That’s what gave rise to the Alltrials movement. It was founded in January 2...
Source: DC's goodscience - April 16, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Academia badscience Big Pharma blogosphere Martin Keller Peter Gotzsche Pharmaceutical Industry Richard Eastell Source Type: blogs
