Shock news

Letture da week-end.

Via neven1, stupito perché di botto la Groenlandia si sgrava (calving: le coste che partoriscono come mucche mi divertono sempre) di un mega iceberg, ho trovato un nuovo blog che fa notare ai direttori di giornali le bufale che pubblicano, sui ghiacci polari  e non solo, chiamandole “Shock news”.

*

Da un sondaggio del Pew Center

nearly half of AAAS scientists – 47% – use social media to talk about science or read about scientific developments at least some of the time. Some 24% of AAAS scientists blog about science and research.

Accidenti, gli AAAS scientists sono circa 130 mila.

*

Via Retraction Watch
– Anche la rivista del CNRS dedica un editoriale e una serie di articoli alla “frode scientifica”.
– L’Office for Research Integrity statunitense offre grants fino a 75.000 dollari per ricerche sull’integrità della ricerca
–  Confessions of Academic Ghost Authors, The Iranian Experience (in open access), una rassegna di ricerche precedenti e interviste con 29 ghost writers:

 Collectively, the available evidence, together with the material generated by the respondents in this informal study, suggests that the state of academic integrity in Iran is not unlike that of other Western nations. Copy pasting from online sources seems to be a common form of plagiarizing from sources, and there is even some indication that the Iranian authorities are trying to do something about it, though their actions may actually facilitate the ghost writing by copy pasting for a select lucky few who have access to a lot of scholarly content. Consider the following remarks by a 28-year-old male BA student: Previously, there was a possibility of downloading full text theses in Persian language. My friends have downloaded so many of them. Now, the Ministry of Science and Technology does not let users download them anymore. In fact, they are no longer on the Internet. Do you know what that means? That means you can simply copy-paste material and nobody could know it by searching on the Internet. That’s the reason people come to us and pay us well.

*

Hai visto? chiede un’amica. Sì, ho visto che Rajendra Pachauri è accusato di aver allungato le mani su una giovane dipendente del TERI, l’istituto di ricerca che dirige. Non ne sarei molto stupita, come altri boss tende a credersi irresistibile e lo ha pure raccontato in un romanzetto autobiografico.

E poi in India non conviene usare un gag order per imbavagliare un quotidiano che riferisce quanto dice la polizia, la stampa sarà in parte inaffidabile, ma è libera, per uno zittito, cento che parlano…

 ***

E’ il nuovo e-cat russo di Nikita Zhalov:

It has a ceramic body – in a tube with a diameter of 2 cm and a length of 20 cm, the edges being connected to an outlet. Electricity only need (sic) to heat the tube. (…)

COP 4,35…We have been working on making both “home” and “business” size cold fusion reactors available—the home reactor has a capacity of 10 kilowatts of “clean, green and safe” energy, but is currently awaiting further testing. (…)
We want to start production of our reactors later this year, but for this we need your help. Every home reactor will cost 900$ and it has enough nuclear fuel for 10 years. No radiation was detected. This fusion of the nuclei of nickel and hydrogen to form copper. Absolutely all of our investors will get their first reactors with 50% discount.

Assolutamente. N. Zhalov raccoglie fondi su indiegogo.

h/t Andrea Rossi, Leonardo Corp. (CEO)