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4 votes
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Kipple field notes
3 votes -
UC terminates Elsevier subscription citing unstable fees and irreconcilable differences in approach to open research
12 votes -
Privacy Attacks to the 4G and 5G Cellular Paging Protocols Using Side Channel Information
10 votes -
"Insectageddon" is a great story. But what are the facts?
13 votes -
Finland's basic income trial boosts happiness but not employment
26 votes -
Plantxel: Towards a Plant-based Controllable Display (pdf)
4 votes -
What does any of this have to do with physics?
14 votes -
Some plants “hear” through flowers. A study found petals vibrated in response to recordings of a bee’s wingbeats, leading plants to sweeten their nectar.
10 votes -
The “skills gap” was a lie
11 votes -
Only Michelangelo made abdomens – and wonky toes – like these
6 votes -
The State of Open Source Security Survey is open
6 votes -
New research suggests optimism for HIV/AIDS
6 votes -
Is science stagnant? Despite vast increases in the time and money spent on research, scientific progress is barely keeping pace with the past
12 votes -
Jehanne: Simplicity awakes
5 votes -
New research confirms substantial majority of Scottish people are not religious and not spiritual
19 votes -
Using Wi-Fi to “see” behind closed doors is easier than anyone thought
12 votes -
Bonfire of the humanities: The role of history in a society afflicted by short-termism
13 votes -
Sociogenomics is opening a new door to eugenics
5 votes -
The Gauls really did embalm the severed heads of enemies, research shows
5 votes -
Wellcome and Gates join bold European open-access plan
5 votes -
New research shows a pattern of exoplanet sizes and spacing around other stars unlike what we see in our own system
10 votes -
Researchers think they know why nice guys finish last
7 votes -
Growing up in a house full of books is major boost to literacy and numeracy, study finds
15 votes -
Does where you live affect what you eat?
7 votes -
Evidence that increased BMI causes lower mental wellbeing
4 votes -
Scientific publishing is a rip-off. We fund the research – it should be free
28 votes -
The other political correctness: America's elite universities are censoring themselves on China
11 votes -
YouTube, Netflix videos found to be slowed by wireless carriers
20 votes -
State of California funded research must be public within one year
15 votes -
First ever trials on the effects of microdosing LSD set to begin
19 votes -
Beer, drinking water and fish: Tiny plastic is everywhere
10 votes -
Researcher at the center of an epic fraud remains an enigma to those who exposed him
11 votes -
Working four-day weeks for five days’ pay? Research shows it pays off.
19 votes -
Tarpits and antiflocks
4 votes -
Unrelated languages often use same sounds for common objects and ideas, research finds
16 votes -
The federal government's My Health Record system is capable of storing genomic information, which could turbocharge medical research but has intensified privacy and security fears
5 votes -
How and why people 'microdose' tiny hits of psychedelic drugs (_includes results of Reddit group survey_)
11 votes -
VicForests says experiment 'very likely' to kill threatened glider, continues research
4 votes -
Climate change could drive tens of thousands of additional suicides in North America
10 votes -
Tropical cyclones are forming further from the equator as the planet warms, bringing new regions into the zone of the intense storms including parts of eastern Australia, new research has found
3 votes -
Potential DNA damage from CRISPR has been ‘seriously underestimated,’ study finds
7 votes -
Mozilla Funds Top Research Projects
7 votes -
Capitalism is ruining science
28 votes -
Democrats value communal personality traits while Republicans value agentic traits
4 votes -
Women ask for raises as often as men, but are less likely to get them
9 votes -
Research finds tipping point for large-scale social change
10 votes -
Microsoft has sunk a data centre in the sea to investigate whether it can boost energy efficiency
15 votes -
Open scientific research is a foundation of our age, but do you think that we may be coming to a time where it may become an existential threat to humanity?
Openly published research makes science advance at a wonderful rate. In my experience scientists and researchers support open research in a nearly dogmatic fashion. Personally I am generally for...
Openly published research makes science advance at a wonderful rate. In my experience scientists and researchers support open research in a nearly dogmatic fashion. Personally I am generally for it. However here is my concern.
I believe that humanity is in a terrible race. One of the competitors is the advancement of science, which of course can sometimes be used in a dangerous ways. The other competitor is our society moving towards murder and war becoming obsolete. The science is obvious and needs no examples. Societies move towards the sanctity of life is shown here.
"Violence has been in decline over long stretches of time", says Harvard professor Steven Pinker, "and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence."
Now to get to my point. In the past scientific advancement has created some really scary things. Atomic weapons, bio and chemical warefare, etc. However, those weapons took a lot of people and capital to produce, and had relatively un-scalable effects. Now with open research on advancements like CRISPR, we are nearing a time where in the near future a smart high school biology student with a few thousand dollars and an internet connection will be able to create self-replicating custom viruses that could kill millions. The asymmetric threat has never been greater.
Do you agree with my assessment and concerns?
If so, do you believe that there should be limits on publication of research in certain areas?
Edit: I should have said CRISPR and gene drives. Here is a TED talk on how gene drives can change and entire species, forever.
7 votes -
Research shows consciousness may extend beyond clinical death
6 votes