{"id":1136,"date":"2016-02-28T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-28T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.creationbc.org\/?p=1136"},"modified":"2021-10-06T22:20:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T05:20:39","slug":"false-flawed-and-unrepeatable-how-science-is-losing-its-aura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/false-flawed-and-unrepeatable-how-science-is-losing-its-aura\/","title":{"rendered":"False, Flawed, and Unrepeatable \u2014 How &#8220;Science&#8221; is Losing its Aura"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>by Richard Peachey<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">During the last decade or so, the weaknesses of current experimental science have been given increasing publicity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Below I provide a sampling of web-accessible articles from my (thick!) file titled &#8220;Questionable Science.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the context of the origins controversy, my basic point is this: <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>If&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>experimental<\/em> science, being done&nbsp;<em>right now<\/em>, can hardly be relied upon . . . then why should we feel compelled to trust claims of anti-biblical scientists regarding what may have happened in the&nbsp;<em>invisible<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>inaccessible<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>distant past<\/em>?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Of course, I&#8217;m&nbsp;<em>not<\/em> saying that scientists are generally incompetent or crooked. I&#8217;m a science graduate myself, and I love good science. But these articles certainly raise&nbsp;<em>significant issues<\/em> of concern.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(1) &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/leaders\/21588069-scientific-research-has-changed-world-now-it-needs-change-itself-how-science-goes-wrong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How Science Goes Wrong<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>The Economist<\/em>, Oct. 19, 2013, p. 13)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(2) &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/briefing\/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trouble at the lab<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>The Economist<\/em>, Oct. 19, 2013, pp. 26-30)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>NOTE<\/strong>: If you like the above articles, save them as &#8220;pdf&#8221; or &#8220;Web Archive&#8221;.&nbsp;<em>The Economist<\/em> apparently allows only a limited number of free visits to their website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Here&#8217;s the front cover of the above issue of&nbsp;<em>The Economist<\/em>: &lt;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/printedition\/covers\/2013-10-17\/ap-e-eu-la-me-na-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.economist.com\/<wbr>printedition\/covers\/2013-10-<wbr>17\/ap-e-eu-la-me-na-uk<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&gt;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(3) John Ioannidis, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/an-epidemic-of-false-claims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">An Epidemic of False Claims<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Scientific American<\/em>, Vol. 304 No. 6, June 2011, p. 16)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(4) Jennifer Crocker and M. Lynne Cooper, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/334\/6060\/1182.full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Addressing Scientific Fraud<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 334, Dec. 2, 2011, p. 1182)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(5) (Editorial), &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/through-the-gaps-1.11427\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Through the gaps<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 489, Sept. 20, 2012, p. 335) [Sub-heading: &#8220;<span style=\"color: #008000;\">A 20-year campaign of scientific fraud says as much about the research community as it does about the perpetrator. The system that allowed such deception to continue must be reformed<span style=\"color: #000000;\">.&#8221;<\/span><\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(6) Brian C. Martinson, Melissa S. Anderson and Raymond de Vries, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ross\/files\/2014\/05\/ScientistsBehavingBadly.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists behaving badly<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 435, June 9, 2005, pp. 737f.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(7) Jill Neimark, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jillneimark.com\/pdf\/line-of-attack.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Line of Attack<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 347 No. 6225, Feb. 27, 2015, pp. 938-940) [Sub-heading: &#8220;<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Christopher Korch is adding up the costs of contaminated cell lines<span style=\"color: #000000;\">.&#8221;<\/span><\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(8) (Announcement), &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/announcement-time-to-tackle-cells-mistaken-identity-1.17316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time to tackle cells&#8217; mistaken identity<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 520, Apr. 16, 2015, p. 264)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(9) Tina Hesman Saey, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"..\/index.php\/tina-hesman-saey-12-reasons-research-goes-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">12 reasons research goes wrong<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science News<\/em>, Vol. 187 No. 2, Jan. 24, 2015, pp. 24f.) [This sidebar item is no longer available for free, so I have published it as a post within our website.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(10) Jim Giles, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.frlp.edu.au\/facilitator\/M3%20Misconduct%20Files.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Breeding cheats<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 445, Jan. 18, 2007, pp. 242f.) [This linked item also includes several other articles from a&nbsp;<em>Nature<\/em> &#8220;Misconduct Special.&#8221;]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(11) Colin Macilwain, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0092867412006927\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientific Misconduct: More Cops, More Robbers?<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Cell<\/em>, Vol. 149, June 22, 2012, pp. 1417-1419)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(12) Sandra L. Titus, James A. Wells and Lawrence J. Rhoades, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/5291796_Repairing_research_integrity_Nature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Repairing research integrity<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 453, June 19, 2008, pp. 980-982)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(13) Richard Stone and Barbara Jasny, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/342\/6154\/56\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientific Discourse: Buckling at the Seams<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 342, Oct. 4, 2013, p. 57) [From this webpage, you can access several other articles in a&nbsp;<em>Science<\/em> special section on &#8220;Communication in Science: Pressures and Predators,&#8221; including the next article below.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(14) John Bohannon, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/342\/6154\/60.full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Who&#8217;s Afraid of Peer Review?<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 342, Oct. 4, 2013, pp. 60-65)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(15) (Editorial), &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/con-men-in-lab-coats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Con Men in Lab Coats<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Scientific American<\/em>, Vol. 294 No. 3, Mar. 2006, p. 10)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(16) Michael Balter, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ganino.com\/games\/Science\/science%20magazine%201999-2000\/root\/data\/Science%201999-2000\/pdf\/1999_v283_n5410\/p5410_1987.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Data in Key Papers Cannot Be Reproduced<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 283, Mar. 26, 1999, pp. 1987, 1989) [Note: Only the summary is available for free.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(17) Jocelyn Kaiser, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/309\/5734\/news-summaries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forty-Four Researchers Broke NIH Consulting Rules<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science<\/em>, Vol. 309, July 22, 2005, p. 546) [<strong>NOTE<\/strong>: You&#8217;ll need to scroll down to find this title nested within a collection of news items.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(18) Monya Baker, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/reproducibility-crisis-blame-it-on-the-antibodies-1.17586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blame it on the Antibodies<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Nature<\/em>, Vol. 521, May 21, 2015, pp. 274-276)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(19) John Ioannidis, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosmedicine\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmed.0020124\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Most Published Research Findings Are False<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>PLoS Medicine<\/em>, Vol. 2, No. 8, Aug. 30, 2005)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(20) Bruce Bower, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readcube.com\/articles\/10.1002%2Fscin.2015.188007006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Psych studies fail replication test<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Science News<\/em>, Vol. 188 No. 7, Oct. 3, 2015, p. 8) [Note: this article is no longer available for free. An excerpt is available here: &lt;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.questia.com\/article\/1G1-430547305\/psych-studies-fail-replication-test-experiment-redos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.questia.com\/article\/1G1-430547305\/psych-studies-fail-replication-test-experiment-redos<\/a>&gt;]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">See also Alexander Kulikovsky&#8217;s worthwhile article, &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creation.com\/images\/pdfs\/tj\/j22_1\/j22_1_44-49.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Creationism, science and peer review<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; (<em>Journal of Creation<\/em>, Vol. 22 No. 1, 2008, pp. 44-49)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2602\" src=\"http:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1063\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage.jpg 2126w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-600x695.jpg 600w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-259x300.jpg 259w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-768x889.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-885x1024.jpg 885w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-150x174.jpg 150w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-86x100.jpg 86w, https:\/\/creationbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/questionable-science-collage-91x105.jpg 91w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1063px) 100vw, 1063px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Richard Peachey During the last decade or so, the weaknesses of current experimental science have been given increasing publicity. Below I provide a sampling of web-accessible articles from my (thick!) file titled &#8220;Questionable Science.&#8221; In the context of the origins controversy, my basic point is this: If&nbsp;experimental science, being done&nbsp;right now, can hardly be relied upon . . . then why should we feel compelled to trust claims of anti-biblical scientists regarding what may have happened in the&nbsp;invisible,&nbsp;inaccessible,&nbsp;distant past? Of course, I&#8217;m&nbsp;not saying that scientists are generally incompetent or crooked. I&#8217;m a science graduate myself, and I love good science. But these articles certainly raise&nbsp;significant issues of concern. (1) &#8220;How Science Goes Wrong&#8221; (The Economist, Oct. 19, 2013, p. 13) (2) &#8220;Trouble at the lab&#8221; (The Economist, Oct. 19, 2013, pp. 26-30) NOTE: If you like the above articles, save them as &#8220;pdf&#8221; or &#8220;Web Archive&#8221;.&nbsp;The Economist apparently allows only a limited number of free visits to their website. Here&#8217;s the front cover of the above issue of&nbsp;The Economist: &lt;http:\/\/www.economist.com\/printedition\/covers\/2013-10-17\/ap-e-eu-la-me-na-uk&gt; (3) John Ioannidis, &#8220;An Epidemic of False Claims&#8221; (Scientific American, Vol. 304 No. 6, June 2011, p. 16) (4) Jennifer Crocker and M. Lynne Cooper, &#8220;Addressing Scientific Fraud&#8221; (Science, Vol. 334, Dec. 2, 2011, p. 1182) (5) (Editorial), &#8220;Through the gaps&#8221; (Nature, Vol. 489, Sept. 20, 2012, p. 335) [Sub-heading: &#8220;A 20-year campaign of scientific fraud says as much about the research community as it does about the perpetrator. The system that allowed such deception to continue must be reformed.&#8221;] (6) Brian C. Martinson, Melissa S. Anderson and Raymond de Vries, &#8220;Scientists behaving badly&#8221; (Nature, Vol. 435, June 9, 2005, pp. 737f.) (7) Jill Neimark, &#8220;Line of Attack&#8221; (Science, Vol. 347 No. 6225, Feb. 27, 2015, pp. 938-940) [Sub-heading: &#8220;Christopher Korch is adding up the costs of contaminated cell lines.&#8221;] (8) (Announcement), &#8220;Time to tackle cells&#8217; mistaken identity&#8221; (Nature, Vol. 520, Apr. 16, 2015, p. 264) (9) Tina Hesman Saey, &#8220;12 reasons research goes wrong&#8221; (Science News, Vol. 187 No. 2, Jan. 24, 2015, pp. 24f.) [This sidebar item is no longer available for free, so I have published it as a post within our website.] (10) Jim Giles, &#8220;Breeding cheats&#8221; (Nature, Vol. 445, Jan. 18, 2007, pp. 242f.) [This linked item also includes several other articles from a&nbsp;Nature &#8220;Misconduct Special.&#8221;] (11) Colin Macilwain, &#8220;Scientific Misconduct: More Cops, More Robbers?&#8221; (Cell, Vol. 149, June 22, 2012, pp. 1417-1419) (12) Sandra L. Titus, James A. Wells and Lawrence J. Rhoades, &#8220;Repairing research integrity&#8221; (Nature, Vol. 453, June 19, 2008, pp. 980-982) (13) Richard Stone and Barbara Jasny, &#8220;Scientific Discourse: Buckling at the Seams&#8221; (Science, Vol. 342, Oct. 4, 2013, p. 57) [From this webpage, you can access several other articles in a&nbsp;Science special section on &#8220;Communication in Science: Pressures and Predators,&#8221; including the next article below.] (14) John Bohannon, &#8220;Who&#8217;s Afraid of Peer Review?&#8221; (Science, Vol. 342, Oct. 4, 2013, pp. 60-65) (15) (Editorial), &#8220;Con Men in Lab Coats&#8221; (Scientific American, Vol. 294 No. 3, Mar. 2006, p. 10) (16) Michael Balter, &#8220;Data in Key Papers Cannot Be Reproduced&#8221; (Science, Vol. 283, Mar. 26, 1999, pp. 1987, 1989) [Note: Only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,290,8,307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-science","category-scientific","category-what-is-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1136"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8113,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions\/8113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creationbc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}