Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

Online labs can reduce scientific fraud: Study

Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Oct, 2014 05:34 AM
    Online video games and remote experiments can combat the rising level of errors and fraud in life sciences research, says a new study co-authored by an Indian-origin researcher.
     
    "Online game-like approach are more scientifically rigorous than the standard practice of scientists proposing an explanation for some phenomenon and then testing that hypothesis through experimentation," explained Rhiju Das, assistant professor of biochemistry from the Stanford University.
     
    "Massive online laboratories today use videogames to engage large numbers of non-professional investigators and prevent scientists from manually testing their own hypotheses," Das noted.
     
    Reporting on the success of their own online lab, Das and assistant professor Adrien Treuille from Carnegie Mellon University wrote about a RNA-design project called EteRNA, which has produced unprecedented design insights that have advanced knowledge of RNA (ribonucleic acid).
     
    "We registered more than 150,000 participants who contributed in excess of two million human-hours to EteRNA. That means there were a lot of eyes, a lot of people looking over each other's shoulders as hypotheses were developed and experimental results evaluated. Everything is out in the open," Treuille explained.
     
    If you strip the game part, projects such as EteRNA present a fundamentally new model of remote science that can prevent many common forms of scientific fraud, Das commented.
     
    Online participants use computer design tools to propose RNA designs that meet certain criteria.
     
    The designs are then synthesized in the Stanford lab of Das.
     
    The results are made available to the entire EteRNA community for analysis and use in future design challenges.
     
    The transparency makes it difficult for any individual to retrospectively adjust scientific hypotheses to match experimental results, or to cherry-pick data to reflect a scientist's biases.
     
    The paper was published in the journal Trends in Biochemical Sciences.

    MORE Tech ARTICLES

    Used-cigarette butts may meet energy storage demands

    Used-cigarette butts may meet energy storage demands
    Imagine a world where used-cigarette butts can store energy for your smartphones, tablets and even wind turbines, thus offering a green solution to...

    Used-cigarette butts may meet energy storage demands

    Micromax now top mobile brand in India

    Micromax now top mobile brand in India
    Micromax has unseated Samsung in India as the top handset seller in the second quarter of 2014, a study says.....

    Micromax now top mobile brand in India

    App to gauge happiness

    App to gauge happiness
    Using a smartphone app, researchers have unlocked what triggers happiness in people's lives -- and the key is to keep your expectations low....

    App to gauge happiness

    Soon, pee to power your smartphone, tablets

    Soon, pee to power your smartphone, tablets
    NASA astronomers are trying to turn pee into pure drinking water. Back on earth, pee can soon be commercially used to charge smartphones and tablets....

    Soon, pee to power your smartphone, tablets

    Gear up for Galaxy Note 4 in September

    Gear up for Galaxy Note 4 in September
    Samsung Electronics will unveil the Galaxy Note 4 in Berlin Sep 3, the Korea Times said...

    Gear up for Galaxy Note 4 in September

    I-pad technology decodes how brain decides on food

    I-pad technology decodes how brain decides on food
    A 'flypad' touchscreen technology similar to what is seen in i-pads has provided crucial insights into how our brain decides what and how much to eat....

    I-pad technology decodes how brain decides on food