A group of whistle-blowers has asked three funding agencies for a misconduct investigation into a series of 22 research papers, many of them on the effects of ocean acidification on fish behavior and ecology.
The request, which they shared with a Science reporter, rests on what they say is evidence of manipulation in publicly available raw data files for two papers, one published in Science, the other in Nature Climate Change, combined with remarkably large and “statistically impossible” behavioral effects from carbon dioxide reported in many of the other papers.
The papers’ two main authors emphatically deny making up data, and James Cook University, Townsville, in Australia has dismissed the fabrication allegations against one of them after a preliminary investigation.
But multiple independent scientists and data experts who reviewed the case flagged what they said were serious problems in the two datasets, as well as in two additional ones co-authored by one of the accused scientists.
The case isn’t just about data and the future of the oceans.
It highlights issues in the sociology, psychology, and politics of science, including pressure on researchers to publish in top-tier journals, the journals’ thirst for eye-catching and alarming findings, and the risks involved in whistleblowing.
This story was supported by the Science Fund for Investigative Reporting.
h/t Fabius Maximus via Twitter
Read more at Science Mag
See Also: Does Ocean Acidification Alter Fish Behavior? Fraud Allegations Create A Sea Of Doubt
The acidification of the oceans is one big scientific sleight of hand. At worst, it is so minimal as to be irrelevant.
Since the pH of the ocean is >7.0 the oceans are not acidic. Instead their pH is Basic (aka alkaline) and has varied only slightly with the increasing level of CO2.
Minimal to the point of un measurable impact in the context of the ocean’s own carbon.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/08/14/ocean-volcanism/
Ocean acidification is perhaps the worst fraud in scientific history. The original authors chose 1988 as their baseline, when ocean pH was extra high (less acid). This guaranteed that subsequent years would be more towards the acid side (even though still basic). They had historical data showing that their theory was incorrect, so they replaced it with simulated data.
Fish behavior is a continuation of that fraud by others. Three Climate Change Dispatch articles show that the studies claiming pH had an adverse impact on fish were 100% unverifiable. Adverse fish behavior, like the entire climate change narrative, is pure fabrication to support liberal causes.
Here are the three articles:
https://climatechangedispatch.com/study-no-evidence-ocean-acidification-harms-coral-reef-fish-behavior/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/study-acidification-fish-behavior/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/fishy-findings-replication-failures/
Read more at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6542/560e (copied from the above link.)
I just came from reading that “Science” article – it’s a long read but worth it.
“Replication” of experiments and “predictions” are part and parcel of the scientific method. If other researchers are unable to reproduce an experiment and get similar results – it’s time for a really serious investigation.
I was a serious science students in the early 1970’s before the massive corruption of science by politics. In those days the results of an investigation were considered preliminary until a competent independent researcher had the same results. Some times the results didn’t match and researchers would communicate further details of the studies until they could get results that agreed. Those were the good old days. Today the politics seems to be a major factor in determining the result of an experiment.