Planet Neuroscientists

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‘Tour de force’ study flags fount of interneurons in human brain

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-29 05:00:47 UTC.

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Medical journal publishes a letter on AI with a fake reference to itself

We’ve seen all kinds of articles that got published despite having references that don’t exist. But this was a new one: a paper with a made-up reference to the journal in which it appears.

While nonexistent references can indicate the use of a large language model in generating text, the authors maintain they used AI according to the journal’s guidelines. 

The letter to the editor, published in December 2024 in Intensive Care Medicine, explored ways AI could help clinicians monitor blood circulation in patients in intensive care units. The 750-word letter included 15 references.

We were able to locate the cited papers for five of the references, although one of them had an error in the publication year, and another had a different author order, page numbers and slight variations in the title. For the remaining 10, we couldn’t find articles with matching titles, either in the journal cited or any journal at all. 

Reference 11 was to a paper on integrating AI-driven hemodynamic monitoring in intensive care, published in Intensive Care Medicine. We could find no such article in the journal, nor any article in the journal by the listed authors. 

Intensive Care Medicine is the journal of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and published by Springer Nature. On November 4, the publisher added an editor’s note to the article stating “concerns regarding the presence of nonexistent references have been raised.” 

On November 29 the editor-in-chief retracted the letter, according to the notice. “The authors have stated that these non-existent references resulted from the use of generative AI to convert the PubMed IDs of cited articles into a structured reference list,” the notice states. “As a result, the Editor-in-Chief no longer has confidence in the reliability of the contents of the article.”

The retraction notice also states “the peer review process had not been carried out in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies.”

Jordan Schilling, publishing director, medicine, for Springer Journals, told us the publisher first learned of concerns with the article in January 2025, but did not specify whether those concerns were with the references or peer review process. “Whilst we endeavour to complete our investigations as swiftly and efficiently as possible, we do with care to ensure the integrity of the scientific record,” Schilling said. “However, we appreciate that delays to investigations can be frustrating, and we apologise for the length of time taken in this case.”

Alexander Vlaar, professor of intensive care medicine at Amsterdam University Medical Center, and the corresponding author on the letter, referred us to his institution’s press office. “The content of the letter was original; no AI was used beyond what is allowed by the publisher,” press officer Edith Verheul told us by email. “In the retraction comment by the editor and publisher it is confirmed that these inaccuracies were the result of a formatting error caused by the permitted use of AI. For this reason, publishing a correction would have been a more appropriate response. However, this is a decision made by the editorial board, as they indicated that the review process was not properly followed. This, however, is beyond the authors’ control.”

The journal’s author guidelines do specify that large language models may be used for copy editing — and also note that the authors are ultimately responsible for the content:

The use of an LLM (or other AI-tool) for “AI assisted copy editing” purposes does not need to be declared. In this context, we define the term “AI assisted copy editing” as AI-assisted improvements to human-generated texts for readability and style, and to ensure that the texts are free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and tone. These AI-assisted improvements may include wording and formatting changes to the texts, but do not include generative editorial work and autonomous content creation. In all cases, there must be human accountability for the final version of the text and agreement from the authors that the edits reflect their original work.

While far from complete, the list of publications with fake references includes an article on whistleblowing in an ethics journal (which has now been retracted), an article with a reference to a nonexistent article by one of our cofounders, and an entire book full of fake citations. The source of the issue is often hallucinations generated by LLMs like ChatGPT. 

Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on X or Bluesky, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, add us to your RSS reader, or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at team@retractionwatch.com.

in Retraction watch on 2026-01-28 20:38:03 UTC.

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The Organized Destruction of Empathy

from video at Washington Post

Over the past year, US residents have been subjected to the abuses of an increasingly lawless authoritarian state. Our constitutional rights are violated on a daily basis.¹ How did we get here? 

The denigration of respect and concern for our fellow humans has been instrumental. Whether we want to consider moral philosophy, everyday expressions of empathy and compassion, or religious edicts such as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Luke 6:31), the actions of Homeland Security (ICE), the State Department, CDC, DOGE, etc. have exemplified the callous disregard for human life.

This has been quite ironic, since much of the wreckage has been done in the name of a punitive, perverted version of Christianity practiced by white christian nationalists such as Russell Vought, the OMB bureaucrat who vowed to traumatize federal employees (reported by ProPublica in 2024):

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he said. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.

“We want to put them in trauma.”

Elon Musk, the notoriously unempathetic billionaire, gleefully put USAID in the woodchipper. A year later, an estimated 757,314 people have died from the funding cuts.

 

As Adam Serwer wrote back in 2018:

The Cruelty is the Point 

. . .

The Trump era is such a whirlwind of cruelty that it can be hard to keep track. This week alone, the news broke that the Trump administration was seeking to ethnically cleanse more than 193,000 American children of immigrants whose temporary protected status had been revoked by the administration, that the Department of Homeland Security had lied about creating a database of children that would make it possible to unite them with the families the Trump administration had arbitrarily destroyed, that the White House was considering a blanket ban on visas for Chinese students, and that it would deny visas to the same-sex partners of foreign officials.

 

And it's gotten much, much worse. ²  


Detained Immigrants Detail Physical Abuse and Inhumane Conditions at Largest Immigration Detention Center in the U.S.

...interviews with 45 people report physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, and intimidation to self-deport.

Immigrant families protest inside Texas facility housing 5-year-old boy, father detained in Minnesota

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Kaden Rummler said in an interview that he was in agonizing pain and underwent an extensive six-hour surgery to his left eye after he was injured at a Jan. 9 protest over the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis. Rummler said he has no depth perception and can no longer drive.

[The video is horrible to watch. Other protesters have been blinded by these "less lethal" weapons. Another had a finger blown off.]

And then we have cosplay Kristi, in a staged photo-op, posing in front of actual Salvadorian gang members who have been imprisoned in CECOT for years. NONE OF THEM WERE DEPORTED FROM THE US, according to the CBS-censored 60 Minutes episode. Another lie, another piece of social media propaganda for DHS.

The Lies

They're too numerous to mention.³ Don't believe your own eyes... Kristi says that ICE agents feared for their lives when Alex Pretti brandished a gun [i.e., took video with his phone], so it must be true.

“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 

― George Orwell, 1984

Scott Olson/Getty Images 

Armed demonstrators protest outside of the Michigan state capital building in Lansing, Michigan. 

 

in The Neurocritic on 2026-01-28 07:25:00 UTC.

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JWST spots most distant galaxy ever, pushing the limits of the observable universe

The galaxy MoM-z14 could offer clues to what the universe looked like in its early infancy

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 20:00:00 UTC.

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Psychiatrists plan to overhaul the mental health bible—and change how we define ‘disorder’

The American Psychiatric Association has announced big upcoming changes to psychiatry’s big book of mental disorders, the DSM

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 19:30:00 UTC.

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How to walk safely when sidewalks turn icy

Icy weather brings a serious risk of falls. Here’s how to stay safe

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 18:20:00 UTC.

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Like staying up late? You may be putting yourself at risk of heart problems

A study of more than 320,000 people found that night owls are more likely to engage in behaviors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease such as smoking and sleeping poorly

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 17:45:00 UTC.

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The Schrödinger equation just turned 100, and quantum physicists are still grappling with its mysteries

A century ago, Erwin Schrödinger came up with an equation that says how the quantum world behaves. Now scientists are asking what happens when the observer is part of that world

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 17:15:00 UTC.

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Why the weekend’s winter storm was supercharged by climate change

A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, and that’s why last weekend’s winter storm dumped more snow, sleet and freezing rain than similar weather systems might have in the past

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 16:45:00 UTC.

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Google DeepMind unleashes new AI AlphaGenome to investigate DNA’s ‘dark matter’

DeepMind’s AlphaGenome AI model could help solve the problem of predicting how variations in noncoding DNA shape gene expression

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 16:30:00 UTC.

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AI tool AlphaGenome predicts how one typo can change a genetic story

in Science News: AI on 2026-01-28 16:00:00 UTC.

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What the new nutrition guidelines get wrong about fat

in Science News: Health & Medicine on 2026-01-28 14:00:00 UTC.

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AI learns better when it talks to itself

in OIST Japan on 2026-01-28 12:00:00 UTC.

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40 years after Challenger disaster, NASA faces safety fears on Artemis II

Many of the team behind NASA’s Artemis II mission were children 40 years ago, when the space shuttle Challenger disaster reshaped spaceflight

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 12:00:00 UTC.

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The surprising science behind how certain foods can make you smell more attractive

Beneath fancy perfumes and deodorants, our food choices may be quietly shaping our natural scent in unexpected ways

in Scientific American on 2026-01-28 11:00:00 UTC.

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Michael Shadlen explains how theory of mind ushers nonconscious thoughts into consciousness

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-28 05:00:45 UTC.

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Engineering journal plucks poultry paper for plagiarism

While plagiarism can sometimes be difficult to prove, stolen figures and identical metadata were the death knell for a recent article involving chicken mortality.

In September, the authors of a 2022 paper in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ journal Applied Engineering in Agriculture discovered a version of their article published by different authors in the International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology. Both papers, which had identical titles, describe the development of a robot designed to assist with detecting and removing dead chickens from farms. 

Although some of the text in the 2025 IJERT paper was altered, the images are the same as those from the ASABE paper, which has been cited 13 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science. The IJERT paper also replaced the word “broiler,” a chicken raised for meat production, with “grill,” including paraphrasing “broiler mortality” as “grill mortality” and “U.S. broiler industry” as “American grill business.” Such tortured phrases, which occur when common phrases are transformed into nonsensical ones, can indicate plagiarism. 

The original authors reached out to Joseph Walker, ASABE’s director of publications, who emailed IJERT about the suspect paper. The journal responded on October 1 saying they “found [the paper] copied” and would remove it in 24 hours, Walker told us. IJERT also banned the authors from publishing in the journal for the next two years. The three authors of the IJERT paper don’t have affiliations listed, and LinkedIn messages sent to the likely authors went unanswered.

The article was removed from the website after Walker contacted the journal and the page read “Retracted by Author.” After we reached out, the journal removed the paper’s page completely, although the PDF remains online.

IJERT is not indexed in Clarivate’s Web of Science and appeared on Beall’s list of potential predatory journals and publishers, which went dark in 2017 but is archived here. 

Walker pointed out the PDF property title for the IJERT article, “PAFS15013,” is the same as that for the ASABE paper. The author listed in the metadata for both files is “miller” — for the ASABE editor who created the PDF. The DOI on the retraction notice page links to Zenodo, an open repository. The Zenodo page associated with the paper has been removed by the owner for copyright infringement, it states. 

In response to a request we sent to IJERT, the journal said it uses an “in-house developed system to automatically screen submissions for similarity and potential plagiarism.” The email was signed “Editor.” 

IJERT’s website doesn’t list an editor-in-chief, but rather six managing editors and 14 associate editors. 

The IJERT editor told us the article was retracted “after it was confirmed that portions of the content were improperly copied” from the ASABE paper.

Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on X or Bluesky, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, add us to your RSS reader, or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at team@retractionwatch.com.

in Retraction watch on 2026-01-27 22:26:15 UTC.

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‘Peer review is our strength’: Q&A with Walter Koroshetz, former NINDS director

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-27 20:34:05 UTC.

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AI reveals 800 never-before-seen ‘cosmic anomalies’ in old Hubble images

Scientists analyzed more than 100 million image cutouts from a Hubble Space Telescope archive and found hundreds of previously undiscovered objects

in Scientific American on 2026-01-27 20:20:00 UTC.

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The brain’s response to a heart attack may worsen recovery

in Science News: Health & Medicine on 2026-01-27 16:00:00 UTC.

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A foraging teenager was mauled by a bear 27,000 years ago, skeleton shows

The remains of a teenage boy who lived around 27,000 years ago suggest he was attacked by a cave bear—some of the first direct evidence of a predator attacking an ancient human

in Scientific American on 2026-01-27 16:00:00 UTC.

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NASA to push ahead with ‘wet’ dress rehearsal for Artemis II moon mission

A crucial test of NASA’s upcoming crewed flight to the moon is set to take place as soon as Saturday, the agency said

in Scientific American on 2026-01-27 16:00:00 UTC.

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Workshop: Advancing Dialogue for Community Collaboration

in OIST Japan on 2026-01-27 12:00:00 UTC.

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Menopause linked to changes in brain’s gray matter, new study shows

Brain changes during menopause could help explain why some people experience neurological symptoms such as anxiety, depression and memory problems

in Scientific American on 2026-01-27 10:00:00 UTC.

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The minor infractions by Diana and Fathey

in For Better Science on 2026-01-27 06:00:00 UTC.

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Viral remnant in chimpanzees silences brain gene humans still use

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-27 05:00:53 UTC.

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FDA website no longer warns against bogus autism therapies, and more

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-27 05:00:26 UTC.

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Study is stolen, sold, published. Now the victim is accused of plagiarism

The year 2026 did not start off kindly for Vijayalakshmi S, an economics researcher at RV University in Bengaluru, India. She received a rejection letter from a journal noting that a paper of hers was highly similar to another published study by other researchers. 

S couldn’t understand why that was — until she realised someone had somehow gotten hold of her study and published it as their own. She took to LinkedIn, expressing her concerns and tagging the authors responsible. The post attracted a comment from another individual, also based in India, with inside knowledge of how paper mills work. Using keywords from S’s study, he found reasons to believe authorship slots on the stolen paper had been sold on Telegram for less than $200 each. 

After S’s LinkedIn post went live, she heard from someone apologizing on behalf of a researcher who had allegedly mistakenly published her paper as a coauthor. That person was now offering her a different study on a related topic that she could publish under her name. 

“I was shocked to my core,” S told Retraction Watch. “He is telling me that he will give me a paper in exchange.” S disclosed the emails in a separate LinkedIn post. 

Two years earlier, in January 2024, S had submitted the study to Discover Energy, which ultimately rejected her paper during peer review, suggesting revisions. She also later presented it at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay’s (IIT Bombay) Young Scholar Initiative Conference. 

“I don’t know where this paper was leaked,” S said. She had decided against posting the paper as a preprint due to concerns that “blinded” peer reviewers who might later referee her manuscript at a journal could find out her identity. 

We contacted IIT Bombay for a comment but have received no response. Tim Kersjes, research integrity manager at Springer Nature, which publishes Discover Energy, said the publisher is investigating the concerns S raised.

In April 2024 – three months after S had submitted her paper to the Springer Nature journal – someone submitted the study to EnPress Publisher’s Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development (JIPD). It was published in September 2024, listing authors based at institutions in Oman, India, and Saudi Arabia. As Retraction Watch and others have reported, unlikely co-authorship networks can indicate the activity of  paper mills, which churn out subpar or plagiarized studies, sell authorship slots, and artificially inflate citations. 

In January 2025, Scopus stopped indexing JIPD. Some observers have suggested that may be because the journal has recently had a sudden surge in the number of papers it is publishing — often seen as a sign of lowering standards for publication.

S didn’t know that the JIPD paper presenting her work had gone live until she resubmitted her paper to a different journal. The editor there rejected it, noting that it had too many similarities to the JIPD paper. 

After being pointed to the publication, S went through the whole article line by line and realised that every single data point she had used, all the literature she referenced, and the citations she included were the same. “This is not their paper at all,” she said. “This is my paper, which I have written without anybody’s help.”

S is now calling for the JIPD paper to be retracted. We reached out to one of JIPD’s associate editors, Jun Xie, who is the president of the Asian Digital Development Bank and president of the Asia-Pacific Investment Development Bank, for a comment but didn’t hear back. 

Mohammed Ahmar Uddin of Dhofar University in Salalah, Oman, who is listed as the first author on the JIPD paper, told us the study was checked for plagiarism before publication. 

“The data used in the research were publicly available from government sources,” Uddin said. “Furthermore, several published research studies are already available related to this topic and our research was aimed at providing additional insights. Upon receiving the complaint I have also written to the journal and [am] awaiting their reply.” 

In an interview with us, Uddin denied that he bought an authorship slot on the paper or being in touch with any paper mill. Uddin said he doesn’t know any of the listed coauthors and was introduced to them via a mutual researcher contact. 

“On my part, I assure you that I am capable enough and would never consider publishing a paper by dubious means,” he added. 

The man who discovered that S’s paper was probably sold on Telegram knew about paper mills because he had had personal experience with one. Ashutosh Tiwari, who runs the counseling firm Mindglass WellBeing, told us that after he saw S’s post about her study having been stolen, he searched keywords from the JIPD paper on Telegram and found a matching advertisement dated December 29. Authorship slots had been sold for 15,000 Indian rupees (INR; around $165) for first author, 10,000 INR ($110) for second author, and 5,000 INR ($55) for the remaining slots, Tiwari said. 

Tiwari knew about the inner workings of paper mills because he had previously himself used the services of such a shady service without realising it was unethical. Although the paper Tiwari ultimately published was his own, he paid 10,000 INR with the hope of receiving help in publishing quickly in a journal indexed by Scopus.

“I was not guided in the family, in my friend circle, [on] how to write, [or] how to submit,” he said. Tiwari ultimately retracted that study and republished it after revisions in a different journal. “That was a fast process because I requested them that it is a matter of my Ph.D.,” he said.

Update, January 27, 2026: The authorship ad on Telegram listed the second author fee as 10,000 INR, not 15,000, as previously stated.

Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on X or Bluesky, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, add us to your RSS reader, or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at team@retractionwatch.com.

in Retraction watch on 2026-01-26 21:35:16 UTC.

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The science of why video evidence can mess with our brain

Why can people watch the same video footage and see different things? Neuroscience can help explain

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 19:00:00 UTC.

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Call for Entries: 2026 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research

Note: PLOS is pleased to once again partner with the Einstein Foundation Berlin for this awards program. Below is the Einstein Foundation’s announcement calling for entries.

The annual €350,000 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research in cooperation with the QUEST Center for Responsible Research at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is inviting applications and nominations again.

The international award is open to any researcher, or group of researchers, institution and organization around the globe whose work helps to fundamentally advance the quality, transparency, and reproducibility of science and research in all disciplines.

→ Submit online

The deadline for entries is April 30, 2026 (10:00 pm UTC). The awardees will be announced by the end of 2026.

The award recognizes successful candidates in the following three categories:

Individual Award (€150,000): Individuals or small teams making a profound impact on research quality are eligible for self-nomination or nomination by others.

Institutional Award (€100,000): Organizations, large collaborative networks, or other entities that make an exceptional contribution to advancing research quality may apply or be nominated.

Early Career Award (€100,000): Early career researchers and small teams are encouraged to apply with bold, innovative projects that advance transparency, robustness, and integrity in research.

In 2025, personality psychologist Simine Vazire, Professor of Psychology Ethics and Wellbeing at the University of Melbourne, won the Individual Award for advancing methodological rigor, reproducibility, and collaborative research in psychology, and for shaping initiatives such as the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) and the journal Collabra. The Institutional Award went to the Brazilian Reproducibility Initiative, a nationwide effort to systematically evaluate research results in laboratory biology and the largest coordinated replication effort in the field worldwide, showcasing the transformative potential of country-level research improvement efforts. The Early Career Award was won by Maximilian Sprang for his project Erring Rigorously, which improves reproducibility in functional genomics by distinguishing true biological signals from technical errors in high-throughput sequencing.

Learn more about all past winners and finalists here.

Selection

An international, interdisciplinary, and diverse panel of researchers and research quality activists will evaluate submissions and select awardees. Meet the jury here.

For questions, please contact Einstein Foundation Award Coordinator Dr. Ulrike Pannasch: award@einsteinfoundation.de

The award is bestowed jointly with the QUEST Center for Responsible Research at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The individual and institutional awards are funded by the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft, while the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research supports the Early Career Award. Additional resources are made available by the State of Berlin. The publisher Nature Portfolio, the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the National Academy of Sciences, the Berlin University Alliance, the Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Foundation support the Einstein Foundation Berlin and the BIH QUEST Center in promoting and implementing the award. 

About

The Einstein Foundation Berlin is an independent, not-for-profit, science-led funding organization established as a foundation under civil law in 2009. Since then, its task has been to promote cutting-edge international science and research across disciplines and institutions in and for Berlin. To date, it has funded eight Einstein Centers, over 70 pro­jects, and more than 240 researchers, including three Nobel laureates.

The BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research at Charité was founded in 2017 as part of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité. QUEST develops and implements new approaches to support that biomedical research is conducted in a trustworthy manner, provides useful results, and meets ethical standards. The focus is on Open Science, Indicators & Incentives, Quality Assurance, Patient & Stakeholder Engagement, Education & Training and Meta Research.

Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is a private grant-making foundation based in Berlin. It aims to help strengthen Germany as an excellent, internationally visible, and competitive science and research hub. In addition to the Einstein Foundation Award, the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft supports the Einstein Foundation’s ‘Einstein Strategic Professorships’ funding programme.

The post Call for Entries: 2026 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research appeared first on The Official PLOS Blog.

in The Official PLOS Blog on 2026-01-26 18:04:59 UTC.

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Why freezing rain can be so much more dangerous than snow

Freezing rain can cause ice to accumulate on tree branches and power lines and thus poses a greater risk than snow

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 17:26:00 UTC.

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Smallpox eradication champion William Foege dies at age 89

A leader in the global fight against smallpox and a champion of vaccine science, William Foege died last Saturday

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 16:45:00 UTC.

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JWST unveils most intricate map yet of cosmic dark matter

Astronomers puzzled out minuscule distortions in images of faraway galaxies taken by JWST in order to chart the invisible

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 16:10:00 UTC.

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How Income Inequality Shapes Children’s Brains

in Women in Neuroscience UK on 2026-01-26 15:00:31 UTC.

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Why does orange juice taste bad after you brush your teeth?

There’s a scientific reason your OJ tastes funny after you brush your teeth

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 12:00:00 UTC.

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NASA readies for Artemis II mission, AI-powered speech gives stroke patients hope, and researchers discover oldest cave art ever

What’s on the road to the launch of NASA’s Artemis II, how scientists are using artificial intelligence to help stroke patients speak, and what an Indonesian cave art discovery says about early human migration

in Scientific American on 2026-01-26 11:00:00 UTC.

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Why emotion research is stuck—and how to move it forward

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-26 05:00:56 UTC.

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Babies who attend daycare share ‘good’ germs, too

Socializing at a young age helps to develop greater diversity in children’s microbiomes, according to an analysis of baby-to-baby transmission of gut bacteria

in Scientific American on 2026-01-25 13:00:00 UTC.

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Quantum physicists just supersized Schrödinger’s cat

A record-breaking experiment shows that a cluster of thousands of atoms can act like a wave as well as a particle

in Scientific American on 2026-01-25 12:00:00 UTC.

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Want to live longer? The tiniest of lifestyle changes can dramatically boost longevity

New research suggests that getting even just a few more minutes of sleep and exercise and eating an extra cup of vegetables every day can significantly boost longevity

in Scientific American on 2026-01-25 11:00:00 UTC.

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Back from the dead, a black hole is erupting after a 100-million-year hiatus

Radio images captured this “cosmic volcano” being reborn at the heart of the galaxy J1007+3540

in Scientific American on 2026-01-24 13:00:00 UTC.

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How digital forensics could prove what’s real in the age of deepfakes

As deepfakes blur the line between truth and fiction, we’ll need a new class of forensic experts to determine what’s real, what’s fake and what can be proved in court

in Scientific American on 2026-01-24 12:30:00 UTC.

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How math can reveal lottery fraud

In one day, 433 people won the Philippine lottery jackpot. What were the chances?

in Scientific American on 2026-01-24 12:00:00 UTC.

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Weekend reads: Why 500 retractions per month matter; another EOC for former Stanford president; and an argument for ‘slow science’

If your week flew by — we know ours did — catch up here with what you might have missed.

The week at Retraction Watch featured:

• Corrections, biases, and humility in science: Q&A with Tuan V. Nguyen
• Up in smoke: Publisher pulls vaping paper nearly two years after complaint
• Fed up, author issues her own retraction after journal ghosts her
• Lawsuit fails to block retraction of paper claiming to link heart-related deaths to COVID-19 vaccines
• ‘Kicking the can down the road’: Science flags insect meta-analysis based on allegedly buggy database
• Fabricated allegations of image manipulation baffle expert

In case you missed the news, the Hijacked Journal Checker now has more than 400 entries. The Retraction Watch Database has over 63,000 retractions. Our list of COVID-19 retractions is up over 640, and our mass resignations list has 50 entries. We keep tabs on all this and more. If you value this work, please consider showing your support with a tax-deductible donation. Every dollar counts.

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

• “Science journals retract 500 papers a month. This is why it matters,” by our Ivan Oransky and Alice Dreger. 
• Another expression of concern for former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Four of his papers have been retracted.
• “I’m going to halve my publication output. You should consider slow science, too.”
• “When science discourages correction: How publishers profit from mistakes.”
• A ‘bizarre’ linguistics paper claiming the ancient Greeks forbade reference to water as ‘H₂O’ has been retracted by a Springer Nature journal.
• “Lithium mining study is retracted despite authors’ protests.”
• AI conference “accepted research papers with 100+ AI-hallucinated citations, new report claims.”
• Study on women’s soccer retracted after ex-coach’s doctorate was revoked for research misconduct and a thesis leader was asked to withdraw the work.
• Researchers find “over 50% of previously detected hijacked journals are active.”
• “Researchers admit to questionable research practices that they do not perceive to be serious.”
• “How chasing a high-impact publication nearly broke me.”
• “Contaminating the evidence: the reproducibility crisis and fraud in infectious disease research.”
• “Three major research universities opt out of new Elsevier deal.”
• “To Combat Academic Fraud, Scholars Confront Hallowed Tradition.”
• “Why scholarly publishing needs a neutral governance body for the AI age.”
• “Six steps to protect researchers’ digital security.”
• “Scientists should be celebrated for more than just flashy findings, argues a philosopher.”
• “From model collapse to citation collapse: risks of over-reliance on AI in the academy.”
• “Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With.”
• Researchers analyze “the concept of independence in psychedelic research” to manage potential bias.
• “Nearly one-third of social media research has undisclosed ties to industry, preprint claims.”
• Romanian university “to examine plagiarism complaints” of justice minister’s doctoral thesis.
• “Qualitative researchers’ AI rejection is based on identity, not reason,” says CEO of AI platform. 
• In an interview with former Hindawi CEO Paul Peters, Wiley’s Liz Ferguson describes the Hindawi acquisition and cleanup from the publisher’s perspective.
• “Behind new dietary guidelines: Industry-funded studies, opaque science, crushing deadline pressure.”
• “Why 500 Publications in One Year Actually Matters for the Cases You See Today” in veterinary research. 
• “AI research should always be verified, especially in court.”
• “LLMs in Peer Review—How Publishing Policies Must Advance”: A response to “Invisible Text Injection and Peer Review by AI Models.”
• Institute knew its women in STEM initiative had released a poster series of its “supporters” sourced almost entirely from free stock photo websites “And Said Nothing.”
• “Biomedical and life science articles by female researchers spend longer under review,” say researchers.
• “While the forests are burning, are we watering our own trees?”
• “Revenge of the Fish”: More on the nonexistent fish species appearing in the literature. 

Upcoming Talks

• “Maintaining Integrity in Peer-Reviewed Publications,” Jefferson Anesthesia Conference 2026, featuring our Adam Marcus (February 2, Big Sky, Montana)
• “Responding to Research Misconduct Allegations,” an AAAS EurekAlert! webinar featuring our Ivan Oransky (February 3, virtual)
• “Scientific Integrity Challenged by New Editorial Practices,” featuring our Ivan Oransky (February 12, virtual) 

Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on X or Bluesky, like us on Facebook, follow us on LinkedIn, add us to your RSS reader, or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at team@retractionwatch.com.

in Retraction watch on 2026-01-24 11:00:00 UTC.

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How zoos are preparing animals for this weekend’s massive winter storm

This weekend’s freezing temperatures and snow won’t just affect humans—zoo animals need to get ready for the coming storm, too

in Scientific American on 2026-01-23 21:55:00 UTC.

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After NINDS director ouster, 40 neuroscience organizations press U.S. Congress for oversight over hiring process

in The Transmitter on 2026-01-23 21:24:23 UTC.

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Weaker radiation limits will not help nuclear energy

Relaxing radiation safety standards could place women and children at higher risks of health issues

in Scientific American on 2026-01-23 20:00:00 UTC.

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Why Apple and OpenAI are reportedly betting on AI hardware in 2026

Tech giants are betting that we are finally ready to invite a persistent digital device into our lives

in Scientific American on 2026-01-23 19:45:00 UTC.

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Why are winter storm forecasts all over the place?

A major winter storm will bring frigid cold and to tens of millions this weekend, but why is it so hard to pin down who will get snow, ice or rain?

in Scientific American on 2026-01-23 17:51:00 UTC.

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It masquerades as malignant. But this bone-covered tumor is benign

in Science News: Health & Medicine on 2026-01-23 16:00:00 UTC.