, Columnist
Science's Weakness Is Also Its Strength
One of the beauties of science is that it’s self-correcting — and there are times when its methods and the culture need rethinking, too.
If at first you don’t succeed...
Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesPride and self-reproach have both been on display in the scientific community in recent weeks. At this year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for example, some scientists took up pro-science signs and marched in a nearby public square, while others gathered in conference rooms to agonize over a recent proliferation of questionable claims.
The fields suffering most from dubious results are social science and medical research, where critics say too many highly-cited findings are evaporating as soon as others try to replicate the original experiments.