Overview

Woven with the author's own experiences as an astrophysicist, Rescuing Science peels back the layers of academia to reveal how science actually operates, why it's so powerful and vital, and yet like any human endeavor, flawed. From fraudulent research to a disdain for the public, scientists have sowed the seeds of mistrust...and they alone can fix it.

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9781538181614

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"Sutter, an astrophysicist at Stony Brook University, levels a fiery critique at the perverse incentives that compromise the quality of scientific research. The pressures captured in the dictum ""publish or perish,"" Sutter contends, have fueled a $10 billion science and technology publishing industry ""with double-digit profit margins"" while producing a rash of studies with fabricated or unverifiable results. For example, in 2014 a Ohio State University geneticist was accused of cutting and pasting DNA test results to create the impression of active proteins where there were none, and a Harvard University biologist resigned in 2010 after assistants alleged he told them to ignore results contradicting his hypothesis regarding monkeys' ability to recognize auditory patterns. Suggesting that subtler forms of bunk science are widespread, Sutter explains how researchers use p-hacking (massaging data so that statistical quirks appear to show correlations between likely unrelated variables) to create the impression of positive findings and boost their chances of publication.... It's an ardent appraisal of what ails the scientific establishment. -- ""Publishers Weekly"""

Author Information

Paul M Sutter is a research professor in astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Computation Science at Stony Brook University and a guest researcher at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. His first book, Your Place in the Universe received a Publishers Weekly Starred Review, and his second book, How to Die in Space, received a Kirkus Starred Review. Paul hosts a variety of science shows, including as an on-air contributor to How the Universe Works on Science Channel and host of Space Out on Discovery. He also writes and hosts his own shows, including his hit Ask a Spaceman podcast, which is among the top 5% of all podcasts across all subjects globally. He writes for Space.com, Ars Technica, Universe Today, LiveScience, and more, with his articles syndicating to news outlets worldwide. He is “Official Space Specialist” for the Weather Channel, and he has served as a consultant for major TV shows, such as Star Trek Discovery and Another Life, as well as films, comic books, and stage plays.

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