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32897841 submission

Submission + - Positive bias could erode public trust in science (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo on Friday May 11, 2012 @06:13AM

ananyo writes: Evidence is mounting that research is riddled with positive bias and, left unchecked, the problem could erode public trust, argues Dan Sarewitz, a science policy expert, in a comment piece in Nature this week. The piece cites a number of findings including a 2005 paper by John Ioannidis that was one of the first to bring the problem to light ('Why Most Published Research Findings Are False'). More recently, researchers at Amgen were able to confirm the results of only six of 53 'landmark studies' in preclinical cancer research (abstract only but interesting comments). While the problem has been most evident in biomedical research, Sarewitz argues that systematic error is now prevalent in "any field that seeks to predict the behaviour of complex systems — economics, ecology, environmental science, epidemiology and so on."
"Nothing will corrode public trust more than a creeping awareness that scientists are unable to live up to the standards that they have set for themselves," he adds.
So do slashdot readers perceive positive bias to be a problem? And if so, what practical steps can be taken to put things right?

24812734 submission

Submission + - Ballmer Slams Android As 'Cheap,' Overcomplicated (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by

jfruhlinger

on Wednesday October 19, 2011 @02:26PM

jfruhlinger writes: "On the day Android Ice Cream Sandwich was released, Steve Ballmer livened up the Web 2.0 conference by lobbing potshots at Google's mobile OS, calling it the choice of "cheap" phones and claiming "the biggest advantage we have over Android is that you don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone.""

23304458 submission

Submission + - United Pilots To Use iPads For Navigation (breitbart.com)

Submitted by bonch on Tuesday August 23, 2011 @12:05PM

bonch writes: Pilots of United and Continental will ditch flight manuals and charts in favor of 11,000 iPads containing the same data in app form. Replacing 38 pounds of paper materials, the iPads will run an app called Mobile FliteDeck from Jeppesen, a provider of software navigation tools. Alaska Airlines adopted iPads back in May. United estimates a savings of 326,000 gallons of fuel a year due to the lighter load.

21986080 submission

Submission + - Facebook More Hated Than Banks, Utilities (itworld.com)

Submitted by

jfruhlinger

on Wednesday June 29, 2011 @01:10PM

jfruhlinger writes: "According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Facebook raises a lot of ire among its customers — more than Bank of America or AT&T Mobility. This bodes ill for the company — as blogger Chris Nerney points out, many of the others on the most-hated list are utilities and other companies with monopolies, which can hold customers despite bad service. At least Facebook edged out MySpace."

21747664 submission

Submission + - MtGox.com Bitcoin trading site compromised (mtgox.com) 3

Submitted by Beardydog on Sunday June 19, 2011 @04:41PM

Beardydog writes: Bitcoin trading site MtGox.com has suspended operations for the rest of the day after illicit access to at least one account resulted in a steep drop in the price of Bitcoins on the site. Commenters to the support page for the event are reporting that a list of usernames and associated email addresses and password hashes have been posted online. MtGox are currently planning to roll back all of the day's trading, email notices to all affected users, and require replacement passwords for affected accounts.

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