A widely-touted 2019 study in Nature which argued that large societies gave rise to belief in fire-and-brimstone gods — and not the other way around — has been retracted by the authors after their reanalysis of the data in the wake of criticism diluted the strength of their conclusions. The article, “Complex societies precede moralizing … Continue reading Critique topples Nature paper on belief in gods
Nature seems to be having a bit of trouble sorting out its policies regarding conflict of interest statements. In late April, as we reported, the journal corrected a paper on fish farming after a journalist pointed out that the first author had undisclosed ties to the agribusiness giant Cargill. (The New York Times, which had … Continue reading Nature corrects a correction on conflicts of interest in fish farming paper
A 2008 story in Nature about Britney Spears that prompted an apology from the author and the journal earlier this week “remains as part of the publication record,” Nature said in an editor’s note. The story, titled “When Britney Spears comes to my lab,” appeared in a section of the journal called Nature Futures and … Continue reading Britney Spears story “remains as part of the publication record,” says Nature
Britney Spears has, as Retraction Watch readers no doubt know, been in the news a great deal lately, as the battle over her father’s “broad control over her life and finances” plays out in court. But a science fiction story about Spears that published in Nature in 2008 — the year Spears’ father was appointed … Continue reading Britney Spears story prompts apology from Nature and author
A journalist in Washington, D.C. prompted a correction in both Nature and the New York Times after finding that the lead author of a paper on fish farming failed to disclose financial ties to one of the world’s largest aquaculture companies. The article, “A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” found that the practice of … Continue reading Reporter prompts corrections in Nature, New York Times after researcher fails to disclose ties to Cargill
The authors of a Nature paper that could have meant a great leap forward for Microsoft’s computing power are retracting it today after other researchers flagged serious problems in the work. The researchers, led by Leo Kouwenhoven, a physicist at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands who is also employed by Microsoft, published “Quantized Majorana … Continue reading Authors retract Nature Majorana paper, apologize for “insufficient scientific rigour”
Researchers in Australia have retracted a 2016 paper in Nature Chemical Biology after discovering a critical error in their research, bringing some closure to a gut-wrenching case for the scientists involved. As we reported in January, Nicola Smith, the senior author of the article, titled “Orphan receptor ligand discovery by pickpocketing pharmacological neighbors,” described learning … Continue reading “The right decision”: Group retracts Nature Chemical Biology paper after finding a key error
Nanotechnology researchers in Japan, who in November retracted a paper in Nature for lack of reproducibility, have retracted two more articles after what they said was a failure to replicate their findings. As we reported previously, the authors, led by Kenichiro Itami of Nagoya University, called for an investigation into the problems with their work, … Continue reading Nanotech group that retracted Nature study pulls two more papers
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: On COVID-19 PCR testing paper, “the criteria for a retraction … Continue reading Weekend reads: A Holocaust studies misconduct finding; Nature investigating majorana paper; nepotistic journals
Springer Nature is retracting a book chapter describing conference research after scholars in the deaf community blasted it for being “unbelievably insulting.” The chapter, “Implementation of Hand Gesture Recognition System To Aid Deaf-Dumb People,” appeared in Advances in Signal and Data Procesing: Select Proceedings of ICSDP 2019. The authors were Supriya Ghule and Mrunalini Chavaan, … Continue reading Springer Nature to retract chapter on sign language critics call “unbelievably insulting”