>
> First off, they claim that a full 50% of scientific papers published
> are not cited one time during the year after publication. Using this
> information, they assume that these papers have not been scrutizied
> by other scientists--they also point out the liklihood that these
> documents probably have very little impact on scientific thought
> anyway. However, the frightening thing is that in studies asking how
> many scientists had ever been asked for their raw data for validation
> or replication, they found that very few were asked, very few would
> be willing to make the data available, and the few that did make
> their data available, it was fraught with error and
> misrepresentations, either accidental or intential.
Only 50%? I was sure it would be worse than that. A paper offered for
publication is just that, a paper. If it ain't verified, and data isin't
available, then that scientist is not taken seriously by anyone who
cares. ALSO - as I said earlier, most scientists work for private
enterprises and CANNOT divluge their data for obvious reasons. Also, the
government has a self-interest in slowing data for defensive reasons.
> The authors also point out that in the one area where testing and
> validation takes place in any methodical way , at the FDA, those
> scientists found all sorts of fraud and deceit and sloppy science in
> studies presented before that body for the approval of new drugs and
> new drug devices.
I'm sure that this is also true, greed motivates. And humans are
suseptable to greed.
About AIDS, the disease many called "God's revenge on homosexuality". I
was dating a woman in college in 1987 who studied two viscious disases
AIDS and Herpes. This was kinda scarry for me I must admit. And I
remember her telliing me of all the papers she had to read, verify, test
again, report her own conclusions etc.. I have never seen a student work
so hard, and was quite impressed at the detail and objectivity she could
display. Now, with the info we have, AIDS is nearly defeated. vaccine is
being tested, and the cocktail is working nicely. Amazing that this
sciene, with all of it's flaws, is going to wipe this disease out in 15
years. God can do better than that at making mean viruses. Also, for all
the rotten papers, it ends up being a combination of this multitude of
information and data that is doing the work for us.
Sodom