#paper-mills

#paper-mills

A growing number of AI tools can detect fraudulent elements in papers, but they can be expensive to use. Such tools are probably better deployed by journal publishers rather than individual reviewers, says Elisabeth Bik, a science-integrity consultant in San Francisco, California, especially because feeding unpublished content into AI tools can compromise confidentiality and is generally frowned on during peer review.

It's not unusual for insects to have ears on their legs, but when researchers took a closer look at what was thought to be an eardrumlike structure on female Japanese dinidorid stinkbugs ( Megymenum gracilicorne), they got a surprise: a previously unknown type of symbiotic organ. Inside, the stinkbugs nourish symbiotic fungi, which they carefully rub over their freshly laid eggs.

In 2016, Brian Wansink wrote a blog post that prompted scientific sleuths to investigate his work. They found evidence of data manipulation, and, after several news articles and two investigations by his institution, he would found to have committed misconduct, as defined by Cornell University. His work had been used to inform US policy around food, much of which has now been thrown into question.