Comment Re:Blackawton ? (Score 1) 174
I agree with you there, I would neither as a Ph. D. candidate submit a paper without references and with smileys in the text. Good classic research in my opinion, need to be standard form, and I do not think I would have made the try to not refer to previous research even if my team is a class of 8yo. He could have added the references into an addendum online or publish a separate paper completing and referring to this article, I think I would have done that.
But, this paper is exceptional nevertheless and the principal author made the choice to not include references and explained why. It is exceptional maybe not by the extent of the paper (scientific impact) but by initiating very young scientist to science with real science (except references
Having 8yo, I would have been very proud today to have participated in this, and make me think that scientific literacy can be achieved sooner than in college. What I remember when I was that age, I went to my teacher and asked him : when will we do paleontology, planetary science and dinosaurs studies: he told me : that is not this year, not the next year, not in high school, but not before college maybe. I can say that this was not one of the best answers I had in my life. If someone had a practical answer to my question at the time, I would not have loose so much time before starting university...