Dataset Information

Scientific telephone: The cautionary tale of the global coverage of lichens.

ABSTRACT: Scientific history has many examples of profound statements that are later found to be unsubstantiated. The consequences of such misinformation can be dire. In the present article, we present a case where an unevidenced estimate of global lichen coverage proliferated through both scientific literature and popular media. We traced this estimate to a non-peer-reviewed publication from 1987. We found 76 academic articles (collectively cited 4125 times) and 13 other academic documents citing the statistic, citation chains without source attribution, and instances where the number or context was changed. We also found the statistic 37 times in popular media, which is especially concerning, given that these media communicate science to the broader public. We demonstrate how an unevidenced statement can spread, change through time, and ultimately be repeated without demand for evidence. We hope this case unplugs the telephone and provides a cautionary tale for researchers to ensure critical evaluation of citation and communication practices.

SUBMITTER: Drotos KHI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11328143 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Scientific telephone: The cautionary tale of the global coverage of lichens.

Drotos Katherine H I KHI Larson Douglas W DW McMullin R Troy RT

Bioscience 20240704 7

Scientific history has many examples of profound statements that are later found to be unsubstantiated. The consequences of such misinformation can be dire. In the present article, we present a case where an unevidenced estimate of global lichen coverage proliferated through both scientific literature and popular media. We traced this estimate to a non-peer-reviewed publication from 1987. We found 76 academic articles (collectively cited 4125 times) and 13 other academic documents citing the sta ...[more]

PMID: 39156616

Similar Datasets

Project description:FURIN is a pro-protein convertase previously shown to be important for placental syncytialisation (Zhou et al. [1]), a process of cell fusion whereby placental cytotrophoblast cells fuse to form a multinucleated syncytium. This finding has been broadly accepted however, we have evidence suggesting the contrary. Spontaneously syncytialising term primary human trophoblast cells and BeWo choriocarcinoma cells were treated with either FURIN siRNA or negative control siRNA or the protease inhibitor, DEC-RVKR-CMK, or vehicle. Cells were then left to either spontaneously syncytialise (primary trophoblasts) or were induced to syncytialise with forskolin (BeWo). Effects on syncytialisation were measured by determining human chorionic gonadotrophin secretion and E-cadherin protein levels. We showed that FURIN is not important for syncytialisation in either cell type. However, in primary trophoblasts another protease also inhibited by DEC-RVKR-CMK, may be involved. Our results directly contrast with those published by Zhou et al. Zhou et al. however, used first trimester villous explants to study syncytialisation, and we used term primary trophoblasts. Therefore, we suggest that FURIN may be involved in syncytialisation of first trimester trophoblasts, but not term trophoblasts. What is more concerning is that our results using BeWo cells do not agree with their results, even though for the most part, we used the same experimental design. It is unclear why these experiments yielded different results, however we wanted to draw attention to simple differences in measuring syncytialisation or flaws in method reporting (including omission of cell line source and passage numbers, siRNA concentration and protein molecular weights) and choice of immunoblot loading controls, that could impact on experimental outcomes. Our study shows that careful reporting of methods by authors and thorough scrutiny by referees are vital. Furthermore, a universal benchmark for measuring syncytialisation is required so that various studies of syncytialisation can be validated.

Dataset Information

Scientific telephone: The cautionary tale of the global coverage of lichens.

Publications

Scientific telephone: The cautionary tale of the global coverage of lichens.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets