Peer review scores were poorly predictive of research project success in this large dataset, suggesting that reviewers cannot reliably predict which meritorious applications are most likely to be productive.
In the first study attempting to formally quantify the deleterious impact of research misconduct on funding sources and publication output, we found that misconduct accounts for a small but substantial portion of American biomedical science funding dollars and damages the productivity and rate of funding acquisition of those who commit misconduct.
Physiological differentiation during symbiosis leads to division of labor between smaller and larger cells in an uncultured bacterial tubeworm symbiont population and results in remarkable metabolic diversity and complexity.
Variation in the gene NaMPK4 in plant populations increases reproductive yield, an effect which appears to be independent of soil water availability, neighbor-scale interactions and associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Under conditions where the force of HIV infection per cell is high, partial attenuation of infection with inhibitors can increase the number of live infected cells and may paradoxically be beneficial for viral spread.
Storage of solar energy in the thylakoid electrical field by photosynthesis in vivo can substantially destabilize charge-separated states in photosystem II, leading to singlet oxygen production and photodamage, contributing to loss of productivity, especially under fluctuating light experienced in the field.
Mathematical modeling shows that reproductive specialization is strongly favored in sparse networks of cellular interactions that reflect the morphology of early multicellular organisms, even when benefits of specialization are saturating.
A more balanced distribution of NIH grant funding among investigators would strengthen the diversity of the research enterprise, increase the likelihood of scientific breakthroughs, and lead to a greater return on taxpayers' investments.
