Blue Streak Science Podcast

On This Week’s Show We have negative results The war on science Some yummy primordial soup And it’s Nobel Prize week! Science News with Chris MacAlister, and JD Goodwin Highlight Negative Results to Improve Science Chris MacAlister Devang Mehta spent 4 years attempting to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to establish viral resistance in cassava, a tropical root crop and staple food for almost a billion people. What he ended up demonstrating was an increased level of viral resistance to CRISPR. The methodology of this work was considered solid in peer review, but it soon became clear that there was precious little interest from potential publishers.  Now, you may think that Mahta’s position is simply a case of sour grapes, and it may be, but regardless of motivations, he backs up his position with evidence. Mehta cites a 2012 paper by Daniele Fanelli. This paper was a review of over 4000 published papers. It found that between 1990 and 2007 the proportion of papers that confirmed positive results to hypo