GoKawiilAll 22 members of the board that oversees the US National Science Foundation have been dismissed without explanation. Plus, the going rate for a fake authorship and how the funding system can adapt to a surge in AI-written grant proposals.
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Researchers serving on the National Science Board, which advises the US National Science Foundation, received a brief e-mail on Friday telling them that they had been dismissed.Credit: Briscoe Savoy for Nature
On Friday, all 22 members of the board that advises and oversees the US National Science Foundation (NSF) — a leading funder of basic science — were fired by the administration of US President Donald Trump, without explanation. The National Science Board was founded by Congress in 1950 and can officially be dissolved only by Congress. The Trump team did not respond to Nature about the reason for the firings or whether the board members would be replaced. The move fits into a pattern of the Trump administration’s approach to science advice, which is being “systematically either dissolved or eviscerated”, says astrophysicist Keivan Stassun.
Nature | 7 min read
Researchers have collated data from more than 18,700 online advertisements selling research-paper authorships online into the largest database of its kind. The team found that the going rate for a first-author slot on a fake article was anywhere from US$57 to more than $5,600. This database could help publishers determine which journals and research topics are most likely to be targeted by paper mills — businesses that produce fake or low-quality research — says metascientist and study co-author Reese Richardson.
Nature | 5 min read
An enigmatic blob pulled from the depths of the sea near Alaska in 2023 seems to belong to an equally mysterious marine creature. Scientists say that the ‘golden orb’ is a remnant of the dead cells that formed at the base of a giant deep-sea anemone, Relicanthus daphneae, to attach it to the rock. The creature itself was only discovered in 2014 to be in a previously unknown order of animals within the subclass Hexacorallia, which also includes anemones.
Live Science | 9 min read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)
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