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Top headlines
Lead story
Fraught uncertainty colored the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that researchers around the world were hunkering down to furiously study every facet of the virus and anticipate its broad effects on society was a comforting thought for many people, including me. In the face of a public emergency, expediting the process of understanding a scientific problem seemed to be a sensible way to expedite the process of devising its scientific solution. And scientists delivered – papers on COVID-19 flooded journals, informing subsequent waves of studies and policies that shaped the course of the pandemic.
But speeding up the scientific process came at a cost: Several reviews of COVID-19 research published in the early stages of the pandemic found that many studies used weak methods, limiting the applicability of their results.
Public health researcher Dennis M. Gorman of Texas A&M University, whose own review found methodological issues in papers published in top public health journals, notes that the issue of poor study design is a long-standing one. Even before the pandemic, the culture of “publish or perish” in academic circles has led researchers and journals to hasten the scientific process at the expense of rigor and integrity.
It may be tempting to see critique of how science is conducted as an attack on science itself, fueling the fire of the anti-science movement that has gained speed in recent years. But, as Gorman writes, “a critical and rational approach to the production of knowledge is, in fact, fundamental to the very practice of science and to the functioning of an open society capable of solving complex problems such as a worldwide pandemic.”
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Vivian Lam
Associate Health and Biomedicine Editor
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The pandemic spurred an increase in COVID-19 research, much of it with methodological holes.
Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images
Dennis M. Gorman, Texas A&M University
Pressure to ‘publish or perish’ and get results out as quickly as possible has led to weak study designs and shortened peer-review processes.
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Politics + Society
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Kendra Stewart, College of Charleston
While Nikki Haley trails Donald Trump in polling ahead of the South Carolina primary, the estimates don’t capture the Democrats and independents who are also able to vote in the Republican primary.
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James D. Long, University of Washington
Donald Trump says he’s being politically persecuted, like Russian democracy martyr Alexei Navalny, who died while in a Russian prison on Feb. 16. A scholar says there’s no comparison between the men.
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Economy + Business
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Christine Wen, Texas A&M University; Danielle McLean, The Conversation; Kevin Welner, University of Colorado Boulder; Nathan Jensen, The University of Texas at Austin
Louisiana’s governor made it easier for companies to receive property tax breaks – and schools will likely pay the price.
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Arts + Culture
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Ian Kuijt, University of Notre Dame; Pavlo Shydlovskyi, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev; William Donaruma, University of Notre Dame
In addition to destroyed buildings, there’s an entire underground world – filled with untold numbers of artifacts, bones and ruins – that are exposed and damaged by the digging of trenches.
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Drew Cingel, University of California, Davis; Allyson Snyder, University of California, Davis; Jane Shawcroft, University of California, Davis; Samantha Vigil, University of California, Davis
Many children’s educational shows undergo pre-screening to make sure each episode delivers its intended message. Adult viewers watching alongside kids can help ensure the lessons are well received.
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Science + Technology
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Sylvain Barbot, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Satellite photography of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut shows block after block of destroyed buildings. Satellite radar provides a different view – a systematic look at the destruction of the whole city.
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Suzanne J. Piotrowski, Rutgers University - Newark; Erna Ruijer, Utrecht University; Gregory Porumbescu, Rutgers University - Newark
Governments can exclude certain groups of people in policies and services not only by the type of data they collect but also how they collect, store, analyze and use the data.
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Jack Burns, University of Colorado Boulder
Projects under NASA’s CLPS program will probe unexplored questions about the universe’s formation.
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Health + Medicine
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Gumersindo Feijoo Costa, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
If not properly managed, heavy metals such as arsenic can accumulate in landfills and leach into soils and groundwater.
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International
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Liyana Kayali, University of Sydney
Around 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped near the border, with nowhere to go. Egypt, however, has long opposed the idea of resettling Palestinians in the Sinai Peninsula.
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