Around Academia

Around Academia

The first in a roundup series that I've decided to call "Around Academia."

Is 'self-care' just another way of policing people's thoughts, by compelling them to feel happy? Or might it be a cynical marketing ploy to sell products? https://www.coyneoftherealm.com/blogs/news/the-tyranny-of-self-care-this-year-s-model-of-compulsive-happiness

Are early-career female researchers getting due credit for their work? https://www.coyneoftherealm.com/blogs/news/rising-early-career-female-academics-and-second-to-last-authorship

• Some advice, whether the assertion linked above is true or not: Don't be a jerk. Give people due credit!

On a related note: should we publish fewer papers? Nelson, Simmons, and Simonsohn make a compelling case: http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/DPlab/papers/publishedPapers/Simmons_2013_Lets%20Publish%20Fewer%20Papers.pdf

• I can't resist including this quote from page 292: "Under the current system, researchers are heavily rewarded for having new and exciting ideas and only vaguely rewarded for being accurate. Researchers are trained to defeat the review process and conquer the publisher. Uncovering a new and true insight is quite helpful in that process, but it is hardly necessary."
  
  Yikes. An savage indictment of the current state of the publication process (rather than in its theoretical/ideal form)!

Are yoga and mindfulness simply fads with more hype than substance? http://blogs.plos.org/mindthebrain/2017/07/19/creating-illusions-of-wondrous-effects-of-yoga-and-meditation-on-health-a-skeptic-exposes-tricks/

Peer Review On Trial

Peer Review Gone Wrong
or, A Cynic's Manifesto

This behavior should get your scientific knickers in a knot: https://theintercept.com/2018/02/23/3m-lawsuit-pfcs-pollution/

Essentially, 3M used perfluorinated chemicals in the production of some of their products (like Scotchgard). Research has demonstrated that such chemicals may harm humans, other organisms, and the environment when they seep into the ground water.

The State of Minnesota sued 3M for this; 3M settled the case for less than 1/5 the amount of the lawsuit, and all without admitting wrongdoing. And 3M had the gall to release a statement describing the settlement as "consistent with 3M’s long history of environmental stewardship."

With 'environmental stewards' like that, who needs polluters?...

Just as outrageously (perhaps more so, if you're an early-career researcher!), this article points out that Minnesota's lawsuit named a widely-published professor, Dr. John Giesy, who allegedly took money from 3M while putting obstacles to publication in the path of scientists whose work showed that perfluorinated chemicals can be dangerous.

State's evidence includes this e-mail, and this particularly damning one, which shows that Giesy knew perfectly well that he was protecting 3M and its interests.

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