Close X
Wednesday, November 6, 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

    Google Glass now available for all in US

    Google Glass now available for all in US
    Grabbing a piece of Google Glass has just become a bit easier as the company opened the online sale of its wearable computer device for all with $1,500 in the US Wednesday.

    Google Glass now available for all in US

    Green diesel might soon run your car

    Green diesel might soon run your car
    Heard of green diesel? That could be the fuel for your vehicle in near future.

    Green diesel might soon run your car

    Google must amend search results upon request: EU court

    Google must amend search results upon request: EU court
    Google must comply with European laws on privacy and amend some search results, a top European Union (EU) court ruled Tuesday.

    Google must amend search results upon request: EU court

    Music to ears: Books that you can listen

    Music to ears: Books that you can listen
     What if you can listen to the emotions of your favourite characters in a novel in the form of a soothing music?

    Music to ears: Books that you can listen

    3D-printed mouthpiece can prevent snoring

    3D-printed mouthpiece can prevent snoring
    Not been able to get good night's sleep owing to snoring or sleep apnea? This 3D 'duckbill' device can prevent dangerous pauses in breath during sleep and stops snoring.

    3D-printed mouthpiece can prevent snoring

    Soon, shirts to power wearable devices?

    Soon, shirts to power wearable devices?
    Your clothes could soon turn into devices that could power your medical monitors, communications equipment or other small electronics as researchers have now come closer to making a fiber-like energy storage device that could be woven into clothing.

    Soon, shirts to power wearable devices?