The Prime Evil of Science Accountability

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
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It is said the devil’s greatest trick was convincing us he doesn’t exist. And for a while he succeeded. He told us that he would help distribute our research to the world. He told us he would put a stamp of approval on the work so that we knew we could trust it.
And the devil did us a favor, for we didn’t have the ability to distribute the work ourselves. Tragically, by the time we were given…

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March 19, 2017 at 02:01AM

Has peer review hit rock bottom?

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
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Just as we wonder how many shootings it will take for us to change our gun laws, we should be wondering what it will take for us to realize our peer review system is broken.
Peer review supposedly ensures a publication is of sufficient quality to be included in the scientific literature, but time and time again at Retraction Watch and PubPeer we see blatant examples of fraud that have slipped by…

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March 19, 2017 at 01:48AM

After Years Of Delays, Gov’t Finally To Review 1st Advanced Nuclear Reactor

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
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After years of delays, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) finally agreed to review the first-ever application for a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR).
NRC has begun a formal review of a proposed SMR advanced nuclear reactor two months after NuScale Power, the company behind the project filed a 12,000-page application for it. The first NuScale’s SMR is expected to begin operations…

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March 19, 2017 at 01:30AM

Solar Update March 2017 – still slumping

via Watts Up With That?
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Guest essay by David Archibald Our divination of solar parameters is aimed to elucidating two things – the length of Solar Cycle 24 and the amplitude of Solar Cycle 25. Figure 1: F10.7 Flux from 2014 The F10.7 flux was exhibiting high volatility up to the beginning of 2015 after which it entered a disciplined […]

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March 19, 2017 at 12:01AM