Papers on Alzheimer’s slapped with expressions of concern

A Science journal has issued expressions of concern for two papers on Alzheimer’s disease over concerns about the integrity of the data.  One involves a 2016 article by a star-studded group of neuroscience researchers over allegations of manipulated data in one of the figures. That paper, “Gain-of-function mutations in protein kinase Cα (PKCα) may promote … Continue reading Papers on Alzheimer’s slapped with expressions of concern

Bad blood at a lab leads to retraction after postdoc publishes study without supervisor’s permission

A former postdoc at Stony Brook University who was moonlighting in a different lab has lost a study after a university investigation found issues with the work, including “overlap” with prior grants and an earlier study that her supervisor had published, as well as misreported data. The supervisor — neuroscientist Joshua Plotkin, who was the … Continue reading Bad blood at a lab leads to retraction after postdoc publishes study without supervisor’s permission

The grad student who found a fatal error that may affect lots of papers

A team of researchers in England has retracted a 2014 paper after a graduate student affiliated with the group found a fatal error while trying to replicate parts of the work — and which might affect similar studies by other scientists, as well. The article, “Perceptual load affects spatial tuning of neuronal populations in human … Continue reading The grad student who found a fatal error that may affect lots of papers

Arizona State investigating data anomalies in work by two former neuroscience faculty members

Arizona State University is investigating two former faculty members suspected of falsifying data in several of their papers. The inquiry centers on Antonella Caccamo and Salvatore Oddo, who recently lost their 2016 article in Molecular Psychiatry, a Nature journal, titled “p62 improves AD-like pathology by increasing autophagy.”   Caccamo once held a research appointment in the … Continue reading Arizona State investigating data anomalies in work by two former neuroscience faculty members

High-profile sleep researcher loses paper for duplication

A prominent sleep researcher whose work has come under intense scrutiny has lost a paper for duplication, aka self-plagiarism. Matthew Walker, of UC Berkeley, is the author of Why We Sleep, a bestselling treatise on the many woes of fatigue. Instantly popular, it was touted everywhere, from Bill Gates to The New York Times, which … Continue reading High-profile sleep researcher loses paper for duplication

Journal retracts paper on gender dysphoria after 900 critics petition

A journal has retracted a controversial paper that questioned what it called the “existing dogma” about gender. The article, “A new theory of gender dysphoria incorporating the distress, social behavioral, and body-ownership networks,” was written by Stephen Gliske, a physicist-turned-neuroscientist at the University of Michigan. Gliske’s paper, which received a modest amount of media attention, … Continue reading Journal retracts paper on gender dysphoria after 900 critics petition

Neuroscience group retracts Science paper

A group of neuroscientists in Switzerland have retracted a 2019 paper in Science whose first author they say falsified data in the study. The article, “Insular cortex processes aversive somatosensory information and is crucial for threat learning,” came from the lab of Ralf Schneggenburger, of the Ecole Polytechniqe Federale De Lausanne (EPFL). The first author … Continue reading Neuroscience group retracts Science paper

Thirty years after publication, a paper cited by creationists is retracted

A paper by a Russian researcher who has been dogged by allegations of fraud has been retracted, 30 years to the month after its publication, and 25 years after the journal published a strongly critical letter to the editor. The 1989 paper on the genetics of wild timber voles by Dmitrii A. Kuznetsov in the … Continue reading Thirty years after publication, a paper cited by creationists is retracted

Misconduct probe of once rising star prompts retraction of cat’s meow paper

A group of Australian researchers who studied the cat’s meow as a model for urinary incontinence and other motor-neural issues in people have lost a 2015 paper in the wake of a misconduct investigation. The target of the inquiry was Hari Subramanian, a former senior research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, part of the … Continue reading Misconduct probe of once rising star prompts retraction of cat’s meow paper

Mount Sinai multiple sclerosis researcher admits to misconduct

A researcher who has received millions in funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and who runs a lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York has confessed to falsifying data in a 2014 paper. Gareth John, who studies multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases, “has expressed remorse for … Continue reading Mount Sinai multiple sclerosis researcher admits to misconduct