Research / Scholarship posts
- December 16, 2011
- 04:06 AM
- 3,239 views
All I want for Christmas is… Youth. The Truth and Lies about Anti-ageing products.
by Stuart Farrimond in Guru: Science Blog
On the third day of Christmas, my Guru gave to me… The truth about beauty products! With Christmas just around the corner, everyone is making final preparations for the holiday season. The social calendar is full, what with office parties, friend’s get-togethers, families to visit and a lot of shopping to do – unless you [...]... Read more »
Watson, R., Ogden, S., Cotterell, L., Bowden, J., Bastrilles, J., Long, S., & Griffiths, C. (2009) A cosmetic ‘anti-ageing’ product improves photoaged skin: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Dermatology, 161(2), 419-426. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2009.09216.x
- December 14, 2011
- 09:08 PM
- 3,270 views
Reinventing Discovery, Part II
by Hadas Shema in Information Culture
This is the second part of my review of Michael Nielsen's book "Reinventing Discovery - The New Era of Networked Science" (first part is here). Last time we talked about Galaxy Zoo, the Polymath Project, and why scientists don't (usually) do Wikis. This time I'd like to focus on the book parts which talk about ArXiv. First of all, I have to say I've been using ArXiv extensively lately as part of the ACUMEN project, trying to figure out who and what can be found there. The place is a bit of a m........ Read more »
Nielsen, Michael. (2011) Reinventing Discovery. Princeton University Press. info:other/9780691148908
- December 14, 2011
- 05:37 AM
- 2,401 views
Science without journals: More evidence that journal rank is a poor predictor of citations
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
In response to my last post, Dwight Kravitz from the NIH alerted me to his paper on a similar topic: Toward a new model of scientific publishing: discussion and a proposal. His paper contains some very interesting data, such as this analysis of citations and journal rank:The left-skewed form of the data is of course nothing new, but their analysis of how predictive journal rank is for actual citations opens a new aspect, I think:Our evaluation reveals that far from a perfect filter, the distr........ Read more »
Kravitz, D., & Baker, C. (2011) Toward a New Model of Scientific Publishing: Discussion and a Proposal. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2011.00055
- December 13, 2011
- 10:36 AM
- 560 views
On reproducibility in modeling
by The Curious Wavefunction in The Curious Wavefunction
A recent issue of Science has an article discussing an issue that has been a constant headache for anyone involved with any kind of modeling in drug discovery - the lack of reproducibility in computational science. The author Roger Peng who is a biostatistician at Johns Hopkins talks about modeling standards in general but I think many of his caveats could apply to drug discovery modeling. The problem has been recognized for a few years now but there have been very few concerted efforts to addre........ Read more »
Peng, R. (2011) Reproducible Research in Computational Science. Science, 334(6060), 1226-1227. DOI: 10.1126/science.1213847
- December 13, 2011
- 10:09 AM
- 2,927 views
Why I spend so much time on the internet (#ScienceShare)
by TGIQ in The Bug Geek
During the course of an average day, when I’m working on any number of academic pursuits from my home office, I visit the following types of web sites: library data bases, insect identification aids, online scientific journals, statistical software help pages, how-to lab/procedural pages, etc. I also spend time on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Flickr and [...]... Read more »
Douglas A. Powell, Casey J. Jacob, & Benjamin J. Chapman. (2011) Using blogs and new media in academic practice: potential roles in research, teaching, learning and extension. Innovative Higher Education. info:/
- December 8, 2011
- 10:00 AM
- 436 views
Dear Newspapers: Individual Studies Do Not Exist In A Vacuum
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Just because one study finds a relationship between A and B, does not mean that other studies will be able to replicate that finding, or that it will extend to other situations. On the face of it, this seems like an incredibly obvious statement. And yet it’s something that newspapers often forget, and which I think could have some very negative consequences.... Read more »
Goldfield, G., Kenny, G., Hadjiyannakis, S., Phillips, P., Alberga, A., Saunders, T., Tremblay, M., Malcolm, J., Prud'homme, D., Gougeon, R.... (2011) Video Game Playing Is Independently Associated with Blood Pressure and Lipids in Overweight and Obese Adolescents. PLoS ONE, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026643
Carson, V., & Janssen, I. (2011) Volume, patterns, and types of sedentary behavior and cardio-metabolic health in children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 274. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-274
- December 8, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 608 views
Burn your tables
by Zen Faulkes in Better Posters
A new paper provides empirical evidence for something that many people, like Edward Tufte, have been saying for years: graphs and figures are better than tables.Cook and Teo took the results of statistical simulations, and presented them to people in the form of graphs or tables. Everyone were able to answer questions about the data more quickly using a graph. Less experienced people (i.e., undergraduates compared to postgraduates) were able to make more accurate statements about the results whe........ Read more »
Cook A, & Teo S. (2011) The communicability of graphical alternatives to tabular displays of statistical simulation studies. PLoS ONE, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027974
- December 7, 2011
- 06:25 PM
- 954 views
Reinventing Discovery: Book Review, Part I
by Hadas Shema in Information Culture
In Arthur C. Clarke's story "Into the Comet" he describes a spaceship with a computer malfunction that dooms all abroad to eventual death by starvation/oxygen deprivation, whichever comes first. The solution is a device older than the computer: the abacus. The entire crew run calculations on acabi, and they make their way out of the comet's nucleus successfully. That is an extreme example of citizen science (or oh-my-God-we're-all-going-to-die science) but it shows the principle, that collaborat........ Read more »
Nielsen, Michael. (2011) Reinventing Discovery. Princeton University Press. info:other/9780691148908
- December 7, 2011
- 08:30 AM
- 2,727 views
Where to Place Demographics on Your Surveys
by Richard Landers in NeoAcademic
One of the questions faced by survey designers is presentation order. Does it matter if I put the demographics first? Should I put the cognitive items up front because they require more attention? If I put 500 personality items in a row, will anyone actually complete this thing? Some recent research in the Journal of [...]
Related articles from NeoAcademic:
Some Employers Ruin Surveys For the Rest of Us
Predicting Dropout Rates for Students Completing Online Surveys
Your Genetics Incline You to ........ Read more »
Teclaw, R., Price, M., & Osatuke, K. (2011) Demographic Question Placement: Effect on Item Response Rates and Means of a Veterans Health Administration Survey. Journal of Business and Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s10869-011-9249-y
- December 7, 2011
- 03:35 AM
- 304 views
Scientific Databases - or Filters?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
A new online database called AutismKB offers a quick way to find the evidence linking genes to autism.You can read up on it in a paper describing the project.You can browse by chromosome or gene name, it includes data on all kinds of genetic variants from SNPs to CNVs and it gives each variant a score according to the strength of the evidence. I haven't had a chance to really tell how useful these scores are, but there's an option to create your own score based on how much weight you give differ........ Read more »
Xu LM, Li JR, Huang Y, Zhao M, Tang X, & Wei L. (2011) AutismKB: an evidence-based knowledgebase of autism genetics. Nucleic acids research. PMID: 22139918
- December 5, 2011
- 01:46 AM
- 898 views
Students use of social media
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Buffer We have been trying to use twitter during lectures, especially since the group is so large about 100 to 200 can only follow the lecture from another lecture room on a monitor. It wasn’t a success, the question time during and after the lecture was hardly used. Only 8-10 questions were proposed via twitter. [...]
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Giordano C, & Giordano C. (2011) Health professions students' use of social media. Journal of allied health, 40(2), 78-81. PMID: 21695367
- December 2, 2011
- 03:10 PM
- 666 views
Blacks with Bullets Embedded in Bone
by nooffensebut in The Unsilenced Science
This essay disproves Steven Pinker’s extraordinary claim that “the racial disparity in American homicide has not always been with us” from The Better Angels of Our Nature.... Read more »
De La Cova C. (2010) Cultural patterns of trauma among 19th-century-born males in cadaver collections. American Anthropologist, 112(4), 589-606. PMID: 21132946
Gurr, T. (1981) Historical Trends in Violent Crime: A Critical Review of the Evidence. Crime and Justice, 295. DOI: 10.1086/449082
Hui SL, Dimeglio LA, Longcope C, Peacock M, McClintock R, Perkins AJ, & Johnston CC Jr. (2003) Difference in bone mass between black and white American children: attributable to body build, sex hormone levels, or bone turnover?. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 88(2), 642-9. PMID: 12574194
Jimenez M, Dietrich T, Shih MC, Li Y, & Joshipura KJ. (2009) Racial/ethnic variations in associations between socioeconomic factors and tooth loss. Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 37(3), 267-75. PMID: 19302573
- December 1, 2011
- 03:59 AM
- 413 views
Let's talk about evolution
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Prominent female role models in science and science communication talk about evolution and its importance to science, medicine and society... Read more »
Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott, & Shinji Okamoto. (2006) Public Acceptance of Evolution. Science, 313(5788), 765-766. DOI: 10.1126/science.1126746
- December 1, 2011
- 03:00 AM
- 783 views
Let's talk about evolution [video] | @GrrlScientist
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Prominent female role models in science and science communication talk about evolution and its importance to science, medicine and society... Read more »
Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott, & Shinji Okamoto. (2006) Public Acceptance of Evolution. Science, 313(5788), 765-766. DOI: 10.1126/science.1126746
- November 30, 2011
- 02:31 PM
- 916 views
The biggest Mars mission launched
by Olga Vovk in Milchstraße
On Nov. 26, 2011 at 10:02 AM EST the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launched successfully from Cape Canaveral using Atlas V 541 rocket and began its journey to Mars. MSL carries the biggest and the most robust Mars rover ever built.... Read more »
Golombek, et al. (2004) Surfical geology of the Spirit rover traverse in Gusev Crater: dry and desiccating since the Hesperian. Second Conference on Early Mars . info:/
Squyres SW, Arvidson RE, Bell JF 3rd, Brückner J, Cabrol NA, Calvin W, Carr MH, Christensen PR, Clark BC, Crumpler L.... (2004) The Opportunity Rover's Athena science investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars. Science (New York, N.Y.), 306(5702), 1698-703. PMID: 15576602
Sallé, B., Lacour, J., Mauchien, P., Fichet, P., Maurice, S., & Manhès, G. (2006) Comparative study of different methodologies for quantitative rock analysis by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy in a simulated Martian atmosphere. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 61(3), 301-313. DOI: 10.1016/j.sab.2006.02.003
- November 30, 2011
- 01:22 AM
- 932 views
Virtual Reality for Stress Management
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Buffer Going to a relaxing zone in a natural park such as the river, waterfall, lake of garden with virtual reality and doing relaxing exercises supported by a relaxing narrative effectively reduces stress and anxiety. Virtual reality showed better improvements than video or audio although the latter two also reduced stress and anxiety. We found [...]
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Villani, D., & Riva, G. (2011) Does Interactive Media Enhance the Management of Stress? Suggestions from a Controlled Study. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2011.0141
- November 29, 2011
- 10:50 AM
- 391 views
Research data should be appropriately licensed with re-use in mind
by ross.mounce in Ross Mounce's blog
I’m really pleased this new Open Access paper has just been published. Hagedorn, G. et al. Creative commons licenses and the non-commercial condition: Implications for the re-use of biodiversity information 150, 127-149 (2011). Some background… After parading my Open Data … Continue reading →... Read more »
Hagedorn, G., Mietchen, D., Morris, R., Agosti, D., Penev, L., Berendsohn, W., & Hobern, D. (2011) Creative Commons licenses and the non-commercial condition: Implications for the re-use of biodiversity information. ZooKeys, 127. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.150.2189
- November 29, 2011
- 01:50 AM
- 966 views
Online Disclosure greater than Offline Disclosure?
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
Buffer Most are afraid of greater online disclosure than offline disclosure. The computer luring us towards more information about ourselves than would probably be safe. Self-disclosure is the voluntary and verbal communication of personal information to a targeted recipient. It has three dimensions: frequency, breadth, and depth. Frequency of self-disclosure refers to the amount of [...]
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Nguyen, M., Bin, Y., & Campbell, A. (2011) Comparing Online and Offline Self-Disclosure: A Systematic Review. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2011.0277
- November 27, 2011
- 05:24 PM
- 665 views
Sapolsky Religion Lecture Dissected Part 1/6
by DJ Busby in Astronasty
Sapolsky admits that this brilliant lecture is often met with considerable resistance by some religious types. Here, my goal is to dissect his lecture and provide adequate scholarly references to clarify and validate his argument; to reaffirm that his lecture is based on unbiased science.... Read more »
Wright, P., Gill, M., & Murray, R. (1993) Schizophrenia: Genetics and the maternal immune response to viral infection. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 48(1), 40-46. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.1320480110
Torgersen, Svenn. (1985) Relationship of Schizotypal Personality Disorder to Schizophrenia: Genetics. Schizophrenia Bulletin , 11(4). info:/
Laguerre A, Leboyer M, & Schürhoff F. (2008) [The schizotypal personality disorder: historical origins and current status]. L'Encephale, 34(1), 17-22. PMID: 18514146
Owen, M., Williams, H., & O’Donovan, M. (2009) Schizophrenia genetics: advancing on two fronts. Current Opinion in Genetics , 19(3), 266-270. DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2009.02.008
Kurotaki, N., Tasaki, S., Mishima, H., Ono, S., Imamura, A., Kikuchi, T., Nishida, N., Tokunaga, K., Yoshiura, K., & Ozawa, H. (2011) Identification of Novel Schizophrenia Loci by Homozygosity Mapping Using DNA Microarray Analysis. PLoS ONE, 6(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020589
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- November 26, 2011
- 09:52 AM
- 441 views
Beware Dead Fish Statistics
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
An editorial in the Journal of Physiology offers some important notes on statistics.But even more importantly, it refers to a certain blog in the process:The Student’s t-test merely quantifies the ‘Lack of support’ for no effect. It is left to the user of the test to decide how convincing this lack might be. A further difficulty is evident in the repeated samples we show in Figure 2: one of those samples was quite improbable because the P-value was 0.03, which suggests a substantial lack o........ Read more »
Drummond GB, & Tom BD. (2011) Statistics, probability, significance, likelihood: words mean what we define them to mean. British journal of pharmacology, 164(6), 1573-6. PMID: 22022804
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