Sunday, August 14, 2011

Mistakes in Scientific Studies

Wall Street Journal



The following is from August 10, 2011. The text focuses on medical stuff although the slide below covers the full range of science including chemistry, engineering, physics and several other areas.



Too bad it does not get into the NRC's goofs like Baker-Just, TRACE, etc. I wonder what the Japanese will say when they find out that the Fukushima units took off well below 2200 Fahrenheit.








5 comments:

James R (Randy) Fromm said...

It is one thing to 'expose' such statistics and quite another to ask what the numbers really mean, by what they are really being driven, and whether or not they indicate anything of any real concern. Do we even know for what the retractions were issued? These are simply raw numbers as far as I can tell. The retractions could have been prompted by something as innocuous as a misspelled name or an improperly characterized educational credential.

Robert H. Leyse said...

Randy should read the referenced NYT.

Robert H. Leyse said...

Randy should read the details in the NYT.

Robert H. Leyse said...

Randy should read the referenced WSJ, not the NYT.

Robert H. Leyse said...

I sent to following letter for publication in the WSJ:

The Editor:

It was a great opening salvo: “Mistakes in Scientific Studies Surge” (page one, Aug. 10).
Readers’ responses are enlightening; Charles Battig, “Peer review became known as pal review” and Paul M. Horvitz, “It is hard to believe that a full page could be devoted to an analysis of retractions of published scientific research and not mention economics.” And discussing the matter of the derailment of the high speed train in China, reader Christopher Wallgren wrote, “It would be nice to see more outrage related to the lack of proper regulation and oversight to protect public safety … .” Clearly, there is a lot more work for the journalist, Gautam Naik, and WSJ should insist that Naik continue to expose the system.

Those victims of the misapplied high-blood-pressure drugs will be infuriated if they ever become aware of the facts. This will certainly be the case for the “tens of thousands” of patients who are still on the dual therapy.

Robert H. Leyse
Sun Valley, Idaho

I wonder what the Japenese will do when they become aware that hydrogen production at Fukushima began well below 2200 degrees Fahrenheit.