The Conversation

Fudged Research Results Erode People’s Trust in Experts
Communication
August 2, 2019

Fudged Research Results Erode People’s Trust in Experts

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Can Africa’s Science Academies Drive Sustainable Development
Higher Education Reform
July 31, 2019

Can Africa’s Science Academies Drive Sustainable Development

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Why Heavy Metal is a Valid – and Vital – PhD Subject
News
July 31, 2019

Why Heavy Metal is a Valid – and Vital – PhD Subject

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South Africa’s Universal Man: Johnny Clegg, 1953-2019
News
July 29, 2019

South Africa’s Universal Man: Johnny Clegg, 1953-2019

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UC Librarian Foresees Seismic Shift from Elsevier Showdown

UC Librarian Foresees Seismic Shift from Elsevier Showdown

In the wake of Elsevier shuttering access to its current journal articles at the University of California, the university librarian at UC-Davis reviews the context of the dispute and argues open access offers the best path for academia’s future.

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The World is Due a Revolution in Economics

The World is Due a Revolution in Economics

In economics classes, relentless growth is an unquestioned dogma. Yet this same economic growth is rapidly ripping apart the ecological foundations of our world.

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Misinformation and Biases Affect Social Media, Intentionally and Accidentally

Misinformation and Biases Affect Social Media, Intentionally and Accidentally

Information on social media can be misleading because of biases in three places – the brain, society and algorithms. Scholars are developing ways to identify and display the effects of these biases.

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A Tool that Detects the Strength of Hate Speech on Twitter

A Tool that Detects the Strength of Hate Speech on Twitter

A new machine learning tool can detect and classify different strengths of Islamophobic hate speech on Twitter. Bertie Vidgen and Taha Yasseri explain their processes in creating a new tool that detects Islamophobic hate speech on Twitter.

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Science Communication and ‘Knowing Thy Audience’

Science Communication and ‘Knowing Thy Audience’

Researchers asked science communicators what they need to know about their audiences. Age, education, gender and economic, educational, cultural and ideological background were typical answers. But to really know your audience, those are just a starting place.

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Software Is Not the Silver Bullet to Defeat Plagiarism

Software Is Not the Silver Bullet to Defeat Plagiarism

Turnitin and similar programs don’t deal with the causes of plagiarism. Rather, argue Amanda Mphahlele and Sioux McKenna, they allow institutions to claim they’re doing something without really tackling the issues that lead students to plagiarize.

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The Census Citizenship Question: A Primer

The Census Citizenship Question: A Primer

The social science community has a large stake in the accuracy of the U.S. Census for the community’s contued research. Here, law professor Jonathan Entin discusses the legal controversy swirling around the impact a question on citizenship has on the census, something the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing about this week.

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What’s That? The Replication Crisis is Good for Science?

What’s That? The Replication Crisis is Good for Science?

The ‘replication crisis’ certainly is uncomfortable for many scientists whose work gets undercut, and the rate of failures may currently be unacceptably high. But psychologist and statistician Eric Loken argues that confronting the replication crisis is good for science as a whole.

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