Peer rejection in science
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Peer rejection in science
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: Peer rejection in science
#2Wait. What? --
> [T]he fantastic takeaway of McConnell’s study [was] that cells other than neurons could store information [...]. [...] Widely known as "the cannibalism experiment," the study [...] fed bits of trained flatworms to their untrained brethren. As a result, McConnell claimed, the untrained flatworms performed behaviors that the trained flatworms had previously learned. In short, the dead flatworms’ memories had found a new home.
Guess I need to track down some knowledgeable people and eat them raw.*
Looks like this is still controversial with iffy replication, but, if real, the effect seems to be based on RNA.
Oh, and McConnell was even targeted by the Unabomber, for whatever that's worth. (He survived.)
* Googling, I now see that everyone makes this joke.
Re: Peer rejection in science
#3This is a really good list of Scientific (and Engineering frankly) ideas that are now fully accepted, but faced huge headwinds at their time. It includes mRNA medical treatments, airplanes (and jet engines), and H.Pylori effect on ulcers.
Re: Peer rejection in science
#4[deleted]
Re: Peer rejection in science
#5Wait. What? -- > [T]he fantastic takeaway of McConnell’s study [was] that cells other than neurons could store information [...]. [...] Widely known as "the cannibalism experiment," the study [...] fed bits of trained flatworms to their untrained brethren. As a result, McConnell claimed, the untrained flatworms performed behaviors that the trained flatworms had previously learned. In short, the dead flatworms’ memori…
> * Googling, I now see that everyone makes this joke.
Well once they've eaten someone else who had the idea for that joke, yeah, of course they do.
Re: Peer rejection in science
#6Wait. What? -- > [T]he fantastic takeaway of McConnell’s study [was] that cells other than neurons could store information [...]. [...] Widely known as "the cannibalism experiment," the study [...] fed bits of trained flatworms to their untrained brethren. As a result, McConnell claimed, the untrained flatworms performed behaviors that the trained flatworms had previously learned. In short, the dead flatworms’ memori…
It does make you wonder though... huge ethical and health issues aside, is there even the tiniest chance that eating certain parts of another human could be advantageous or even partly grant you some of the positive traits that other human possesses?
There's growing interest in infusion of young people's plasma to counter aging, for example. Fecal transplants (more like gut biome transplants) also come to mind.
And Cerebrolysin is a slurry of peptides from pig brain matter which, when injected or taken intranasally, is used to treat brain damage but has also (riskily, of course) been used "off-label" as a cognitive enhancer in healthy people. It's reported by some to significantly improve cognitive function, with unique effects. (And reported by some others to have caused long-term or permanent brain damage. No risk, no reward, I guess.)
It wouldn't horribly shock me if - ignoring the ethics and the risks of prions and possibly harmful "mismatches" for a moment - eating part of someone's brain could provide some cognitive benefits, and if maybe the brains of more intelligent people could in some cases provide stronger benefits.
Per the tapeworm experiments, maybe you could even get some cognitive benefit from eating other organs besides the brain. And per Cerebrolysin, maybe if you grind up parts of a smart person's brain into a smoothie, aerosolize it, and take it intranasally, you could get especially powerful benefits (...and/or terrible side effects or brain damage).
(Obviously this is still unlikely and complete, uninformed speculation on my part, though. And even if it were theoretically plausible obviously I don't think it should ever be tried for any reason because it would harm or kill at least one party, and it probably would be bad to do with a dead brain that died of natural causes.)
Re: Peer rejection in science
#7Wait. What? -- > [T]he fantastic takeaway of McConnell’s study [was] that cells other than neurons could store information [...]. [...] Widely known as "the cannibalism experiment," the study [...] fed bits of trained flatworms to their untrained brethren. As a result, McConnell claimed, the untrained flatworms performed behaviors that the trained flatworms had previously learned. In short, the dead flatworms’ memori…
[deleted]
Re: Peer rejection in science
#8Wait. What? -- > [T]he fantastic takeaway of McConnell’s study [was] that cells other than neurons could store information [...]. [...] Widely known as "the cannibalism experiment," the study [...] fed bits of trained flatworms to their untrained brethren. As a result, McConnell claimed, the untrained flatworms performed behaviors that the trained flatworms had previously learned. In short, the dead flatworms’ memori…
It does make you wonder though... huge ethical and health issues aside, is there even the tiniest chance that eating certain parts of another human could be advantageous or even partly grant you some of the positive traits that other human possesses? There's growing interest in infusion of young people's plasma to counter aging, for example. Fecal transplants (more like gut biome transplants) also come to mind. And C…
>It's reported by some to significantly improve cognitive function, with unique effects.
Take the blue pill, and it's a placebo. Take the red pill, and although you will become ten times smarter, your goals will change and you will only be interested in wallowing in mud and hunting for truffles.
Re: Peer rejection in science
#9Great article. A must-read for any researcher, especially in today's climate of research-mill academic production. It missed a nugget about the H.Pylori bacterial cause of stomach ulcer. To prove his hypothesis, Barry Marshall deliberately infected himself with the suspected bacteria. From Wikipedia:
"After failed attempts to infect piglets in 1984, Marshall, after having a baseline endoscopy done, drank a broth containing cultured H. pylori, expecting to develop, perhaps years later, an ulcer.[13] He was surprised when, only three days later, he developed vague nausea and halitosis (due to the achlorhydria, there was no acid to kill bacteria in the stomach, and their waste products manifested as bad breath), noticed only by his mother."
Re: Peer rejection in science
#10Let's not jump to conclusions. Yes, there have been numerous cases of "misses." But to evaluate the value of peer review for science, we need to know the "correct rejection" rates as well. Also note that we now know of these cases because science self-corrected, presumably via peer-reviewed replication / validation.