Nick Wise is a postdoc in fluid dynamics at Cambridge University. We talk about his 'detective work' on publication fraud which has gotten more than 800 papers retracted to date, including tortured phrases, discovering Facebook groups and Telegram channels in which people sell authorships on papers, how 'Special' issues can be exploited, and what we can do about this.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: How Nick got involved with publication fraud: tortured phrases
0:18:26: Why do people try to publish nonsense papers?
0:24:27: The ecosystem of fraudulent publishing
0:30:22: 'Special' issues
0:49:02: How does Nick do this detective work?
1:00:37: What can we do about publication fraud?
1:38:52: There are practically no jobs to work full-time on fraud detection
1:49:37: A book or paper more people should read
1:55:13: Something Nick wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:57:21: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Nick's links

• Website: https://geni.us/n-wise-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/n-wise-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/n-wise-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References & links

Episodes with Eugenie Reich: https://geni.us/bjks-reich

Episode with Elisabeth Bik: https://geni.us/bjks-bik

Episode with Adam Mastroianni: https://geni.us/bjks-mastroianni_2

Dorothy Bishop awards 2024: https://www.ukrn.org/2024/03/28/winners-of-the-2024-dorothy-bishop-prize/

Nick's guest blog post on Dorothy Bishop's blog: http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2022/10/what-is-going-on-in-hindawi-special.html

Nick's talk at Cambridge: https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/4117618

Everything Hertz podcast: https://everythinghertz.com/

James Heathers's series of posts on Hindawi: https://jamesclaims.substack.com/p/the-hindawi-files-part-1-the-timeline

Coffeezilla: https://www.youtube.com/@Coffeezilla

Barnaby Jack's talk at DefCon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkteGFfvwJ0

Cabanac, Labbé & Magazinov (2021). Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science. Evidence of critical issues affecting established journals. arXiv.
Mastroianni & Ludwin-Peery (2022). Things could be better. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2uxwk
Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.

This is the 2nd part of my interview with Eugenie Reich, who is a lawyer who defends scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her transition from journalism to law, and discuss the legal aspects of scientific fraud: why fraudsters rarely go to prison, what whistleblowers are legally allowed to do, how and when to seek legal advice, and much more. Obviously, none of this is legal advice, but hopefully it provides some useful pointers.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: How Eugenie went from science journalist to being a lawyer and defending whistleblowers
0:13:15: Why do most people who commit scientific fraud not go to prison?
0:32:36: What are whistleblowers allowed to do?
0:48:24: What if I get sued for reporting scientific misconduct?
0:56:32: How do fraudsters try to intimidate whistleblowers?
1:01:24: What if I can't afford legal help?
1:06:18: Eugenie's plans for the future

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Eugenie's links

• Website: https://geni.us/reich-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/reich-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Woo-Suk Hwang affair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_affair
Theranos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos
Cassava: https://www.science.org/content/article/company-misled-investors-possible-alzheimer-s-drug-sec-charges
Eric Poehlman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Poehlman
Luk van Parijs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luk_Van_Parijs
The Scientific Integrity Fund: https://scientificintegrityfund.org/

Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.
Reich (2011). Fraud case we might have seen coming. Nature News.

Eugenie Reich is an attorney who defends scientific whistleblowers, and a former investigative science journalist. We talk about her previous work as a science journalist, in particular her book Plastic Fantastic about one of the biggest fraud cases in physics, the case of Jan-Hendrik Schön. We'd planned to also discuss Eugenie's current work as an attorney, but spent all our time on the Schön case. Eugenie kindly agreed to do another interview, in which we cover the legal aspects of fraud, which will be the next episode (#106).

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: One of the biggest fraud cases in physics/all of science
0:05:47: How and why Eugenie started writing about the Schön case
0:09:26: Why did Schön commit fraud?
0:19:30: Schön's PhD: he never saved any original data
0:30:05: Bell Labs vs. Schön's PhD lab: long-term revolutions vs. short-term applications
0:36:42: Schön's first work at Bell Labs was 'unpublishable'
0:41:42: How to get away with fraud: pretend you collected data in another lab
0:47:45: Bertram Batlogg and the role of the supervisors of fraudsters
0:56:20: How the bursting of the Dot-Com Bubble and 9/11 may (indirectly) have exacerbated Schön's fraud
1:01:09: How to use your colleagues' ideas to commit better fraud
1:05:05: How Schön's fraud unraveled
1:13:45: What is Schön doing now?
1:18:11: A book or paper more people should read
1:20:20: Something Eugenie wishes she'd learnt sooner
1:22:58: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Eugenie's links

• Website: https://geni.us/reich-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/reich-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Episode with Simine Vazire: https://geni.us/bjks-vazire
Episode with Elisabeth Bik: https://geni.us/bjks-bik

Bell Labs (2002). The Schon report: https://media-bell-labs-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pages/20170403_1709/misconduct-revew-report-lucent.pdf
Reich (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world.
Shapin & Schaffer (1985). Leviathan and the air-pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the experimental life.

James (Mac) Shine is a PI and fellow at the University of Sydney. We talk about his background in sports, using fMRI to integrate various parts of neuroscience, collaboration, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Mac's sporting background
0:07:46: Overview of Mac's review in Nature (w/ Emily Finn and Russell Poldrack)
0:14:03: The role of great editors in improving scientists and their work
0:32:53: Connecting different levels of description
0:40:07: Integration and specialisation
0:48:49: You can scan any animal with fMRI - but they're usually anaesthetised
0:54:13: The transfer from human fMRI to animal electrophysiology
1:01:53: N=1 studies and layer-fMRI in clinical neuroscience
1:16:17: Collaboration and building a multidisciplinary lab
1:26:52: The magic formula in science: annoyance, excitement, and a constructive mindset
1:34:51: Writing grants as a test to oneself, and the art of reframing
1:41:52: A book or paper more people should read
1:43:37: Something Mac wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:45:43: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Mac's links

• Website: https://geni.us/shine-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/shine-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/shine-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

OHMB interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucDj_94ovaU

Boyden, ... & Deisseroth (2005). Millisecond-timescale, genetically targeted optical control of neural activity. Nature Neuroscience.
Finn, Poldrack & Shine (2023). Functional neuroimaging as a catalyst for integrated neuroscience. Nature.
Friston, ... (2017). Active inference: a process theory. Neural Computation.
Munn, ... Larkum & Shine (2023). A thalamocortical substrate for integrated information via critical synchronous bursting. PNAS.
Newbold, ... & Dosenbach (2020). Plasticity and spontaneous activity pulses in disused human brain circuits. Neuron.
Pezzulo & Cisek (2016). Navigating the affordance landscape: feedback control as a process model of behavior and cognition. TiCS.
Poldrack, ... (2015). Long-term neural and physiological phenotyping of a single human. Nature Communications.
Rao & Ballard (1999). Predictive coding in the visual cortex: a functional interpretation of some extra-classical receptive-field effects. Nature Neuroscience.
Shine, ... (2011). Visual misperceptions and hallucinations in Parkinson's disease: dysfunction of attentional control networks?. Movement Disorders.
Shine, ... & Poldrack (2016). The dynamics of functional brain networks: integrated network states during cognitive task performance. Neuron.
Shine, ... & Poldrack (2016). Temporal metastates are associated with differential patterns of time-resolved connectivity, network topology, and attention. PNAS.
Shine & Poldrack (2018). Principles of dynamic network reconfiguration across diverse brain states. NeuroImage.

Brandon Brown is a professor at University of California Riverside, where he studies global health and ethics. He also writes career columns for Nature and Science, which we talk about: negotiations in academia, his sabbatical, his life owning and working a farm, different types of grants and contributions in academia, and much more

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Brandon's path to becoming a scientist
0:20:39: Start discussing Brandon's career columns in Nature
0:32:17: Grant applications: small vs. big
0:41:36: Postdoc-phase: is my plan crazy?
0:55:32: Different types of contribution/recognition in academia
1:09:22: Negotiation in academia
1:22:47: Contributing to team science
1:30:30: Sabbaticals
1:39:19: Brandon's farm
1:48:15: A book or paper more people should read
1:49:33: Something Brandon wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:51:43: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Brandon's links

• Website: https://geni.us/brown-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/brown-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/brown-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

CAMP: https://www.campstatewide.org/
truEvolution: https://www.truevolution.org/

Brandon's columns (most of which we discussed):
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02390-w
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03184-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00381-5
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.364.6447.1306
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.372.6548.1358

Coelho (1988). The Alchemist.

Soledad Gonzalo Cogno is a group leader at the Kavli Institute for Science Neuroscience in Trondheim. We talk about how she went from studying physics in Argentina to working on the brain in Norway, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to neuroscience, why researchers should give their research animals a nice life, mentorship, and discuss her recent Nature paper on ultraslow oscillatory sequences in medial entorhinal cortex.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Studying physics in Argentina
0:12:30: The advantages of a physics background - interdisciplinarity in neuroscience
0:27:31: How Soledad ended up in Trondheim
0:32:46: Rodent heaven in Norway
0:36:19: Start discussing Soledad's paper on ultraslow oscillatory sequences
1:03:12: So what do those ultraslow oscillatory sequences do?
1:16:18: A book or paper more people should read
1:22:30: Something Soledad wishes she'd learnt sooner
1:30:51: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Soledad's links

• Website: https://geni.us/gonzalo_cogno-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/gonzalo_cogno-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References

Episode about Ramon y Cajal: https://geni.us/bjks-ehrlich

Brun, Solstad, Kjelstrup, Fyhn, Witter, Moser & Moser (2008). Progressive increase in grid scale from dorsal to ventral medial entorhinal cortex. Hippocampus.
Constantinou, Gonzalo Cogno, Elijah, Kropff, Gigg, Samengo & Montemurro (2016). Bursting neurons in the hippocampal formation encode features of LFP rhythms. Frontiers in computational neuroscience.
Dayan & Abbott (2005). Theoretical neuroscience: computational and mathematical modeling of neural systems.
Gonzalo Cogno, Obenhaus, Lautrup, Jacobsen, Clopath, Andersson, ... & Moser (2024). Minute-scale oscillatory sequences in medial entorhinal cortex. Nature.
Hastie, Tibshirani & Friedman (2009). The elements of statistical learning: data mining, inference, and prediction.
Kropff, Carmichael, Moser & Moser (2015). Speed cells in the medial entorhinal cortex. Nature.
MacKay (2003). Information theory, inference and learning algorithms.

Julie Old is as Associate Professor at Western Sydney University. We talk about her experiences and research with wombats, various aspects of wombat behavior, conservation efforts, challenges such as sarcoptic mange and roadkill, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat's critically endangered status and efforts to translocate them safely, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: How Julie got into working with wombats
0:03:14: What are wombats?
0:11:40: How Julie started researching wombats
0:15:34: Sarcoptic mange in wombats
0:25:22: Saving the critically endangered Northern hairy-nosed wombat
0:36:00: How to prevent wombats from becoming roadkill
0:41:46: How do I know a wombat was there without seeing the wombat directly?
0:44:11: What research could I do on wombats and (social) decision-making?
0:47:51: How do wombats navigate in burrows?
0:52:42: How the Australian wildfires in 19/20 affected wombats
0:55:41: WomSAT
0:59:29: The Wombat Foundation
1:01:06: How to translocate a population of wombats
1:08:35: A book or paper more people should read
1:10:53: Something Julie wishes she'd learnt sooner
1:12:11: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Julie's links

• Website: https://geni.us/old-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/old-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/old-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References & links

The scientific park: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epping_Forest_National_Park
The Wombat Foundation: https://www.wombatfoundation.com.au/
WomSAT: https://www.womsat.org.au/womsat/

French & Whatley (2002). Diary of a Wombat.
Mayadunnage, Stannard, West & Old (2024). Spatial and temporal patterns of sarcoptic mange in wombats using the citizen science tool, WomSAT. Integrative Zoology.
Old, Hunter & Wolfenden (2018). Who utilises bare-nosed wombat burrows?. Australian Zoologist.
Old, Sengupta, Naraya, & Wolfenden (2018). Sarcoptic mange in wombats—A review and future research directions. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases.
Old & Deane (2003). The detection of mature T‐and B‐cells during development of the lymphoid tissues of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii). Journal of Anatomy.
Old & Deane (2000). Development of the immune system and immunological protection in marsupial pouch young. Developmental & Comparative Immunology.
Park (1962). The Adventures of the Muddle-headed Wombat.
Stannard, Wynan, Wynan, Dixon Mayadunnage & Old (2021). Can virtual fences reduce wombat road mortalities?. Ecological Engineering.
Strahan's mammals of Australia (2023).
Woodford (2002). The secret life of wombats.

Tom Chivers is a journalist who writes a lot about science and applied statistics. We talk about his new book on Bayesian statistics, the biography of Thomas Bayes, the history of probability theory, how Bayes can help with the replication crisis, how Tom became a journalist, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Tom's book about Bayes & Bayesian statistics relates to many of my previous episodes and much of my own research
0:03:12: A brief biography of Thomas Bayes (about whom very little is known)
0:11:00: The history of probability theory
0:36:23: Bayesian songs
0:43:17: Bayes & the replication crisis
0:57:27: How Tom got into science journalism
1:08:32: A book or paper more people should read
1:10:05: Something Tom wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:14:36: Advice for PhD students/postdocs/people in a transition period

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Tom's links

• Website: https://geni.us/chivers-web
• Twitter: https://geni.us/chivers-twt
• Podcast: https://geni.us/chivers-pod

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Episode with Stuart Ritchie: https://geni.us/bjks-ritchie
Scott Alexander: https://www.astralcodexten.com/

Bayes (1731). Divine benevolence, or an attempt to prove that the principal end of the divine providence and government is the happiness of his creatures. Being an answer to a pamphlet entitled Divine Rectitude or an inquiry concerning the moral perfections of the deity with a refutation of the notions therein advanced concerning beauty and order, the reason of punishment and the necessity of a state of trial antecedent to perfect happiness.
Bayes (1763). An essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Bellhouse (2004). The Reverend Thomas Bayes, FRS: a biography to celebrate the tercentenary of his birth. Project Euclid.
Bem (2011). Feeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of personality and social psychology.
Chivers (2024). Everything is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World.
Chivers & Chivers (2021). How to read numbers: A guide to statistics in the news (and knowing when to trust them).
Chivers (2019). The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy: Superintelligent AI and the Geeks Who Are Trying to Save Humanity's Future.
Clarke [not Black, as Tom said] (2020). Piranesi.
Goldacre (2009). Bad science.
Goldacre (2014). Bad pharma: how drug companies mislead doctors and harm patients.
Simmons, Nelson & Simonsohn (2011). False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science.