Tweet

Roger Pielke Jr.

13 Jan, 9 tweets, 3 min read

🧵
A follow up to Fishy Science

Last month I wrote about the retraction of a paper and its implications for the Biden Administration

Today, the OSTP commented on the issue ...

rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/fishy-scienc…

TL;DR

A well-regarded scientist, now a senior official at OSTP, violated PNAS peer review procedures as an editor so egregiously that it led to the paper she oversaw being retracted

The official is also leading the Biden Admin Science Integrity Task Force

Not a great look...

@axios

Today, @axios reports the following about the retraction and the officials role on the Science Integrity Task Force
axios.com/white-house-sc…

My thoughts on this response follow . . .

1. Lubchenco certainly knew she was violating peer review procedures & she knows her collaborators and knows her brother-in-law. Of course she agrees that the retraction was warranted. All that says is that she was caught violating rules that she knew she should have followed.

2. The Biden Task Force writes this week: "Violations of scientific integrity damage trust in both science and government"

Excusing a serious violation of scientific integrity by a Task Force leader is not a great way to build trust

whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…

3. As I told Axios yesterday the Lubchenco episode is not a huge deal but lends itself to a perception of arrogance that Biden Admin sees scientific integrity policies to be important, but selectively so - eg, they are for our political opponents but not really for us

4. Of course selective application of science integrity principles is a real thing - the media & scientists often act as if such principles apply to Rs but not Ds

Compare Wash Post headlines for scientist removed by Trump vs scientist removed by Biden (they held same position)

5. The politicization of science integrity is the main reason why I do not expect much from Biden Admin (like Obama) because they do not want to create new mechanisms of oversight that a future R Congress can wield over them - and vice versa when party control is switched

6. So long as we are incapable of holding own own side accountable (whether gov't media, science) then the prospects for elevating overall standards of science integrity will be pretty slim
The result, ironically enough, will be further pathological politicization of science
/END

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @RogerPielkeJr

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

14 Jan

@asymmetricinfo

🧵A few thoughts on this column by @asymmetricinfo on trans athletes . . . To start, I 100% agree with her central point on questions surrounding trans athletes:
"will have to be asked and answered — out loud, where everyone can hear it"

So let's discuss . . .

https://twitter.com/PostOpinions/status/1482079083248893966

Issues surrounding trans athletes in sport typically find their way onto the pages of the Wash Post & similar when a trans athlete makes news for some reason, typically athletic success

I get how the media works

But unique cases typically make for bad policy discussions

The world of sport governance is complex and regulations surrounding trans athlete participation will necessarily differ based on setting and sport
pewtrusts.org/en/research-an…

There is not going to be a single "answer" to the issue, even for elite sport

Complex? Yes, buckle up

Read 12 tweets

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

13 Jan

🧵
Interesting detail in Supreme Court ruling striking down the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate for employers . . .
supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…

The majority argue that Congress never gave OSHA authority to regulate public health in workplaces

A reaction might be for the Biden Admin to propose new legislation granting OSHA that authority

After all, Ds control House and Senate

But . . .

There is no chance of legislation passing that would expand OSHA regulatory authority

How do we know this?

The Senate voted last month to express disapproval of the OSHA vaccine mandate

It was party-line, except for two
Tester (D-MT)
Manchin (D-WV)

Supreme Court cites this

Read 4 tweets

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

12 Jan

Quiet, uncritical, obedient: how the UK’s scientists failed the pandemic test
Throughout the pandemic, senior advisers and institutions have failed to challenge a post-truth government.
newstatesman.com/health-science…

@jameswilsdon

🔥 from @jameswilsdon

@philipcball

The core of the issue lies here, in a conflation of "science advice" (whatever that is) vs. policy or political advice
via @philipcball

Read 4 tweets

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

11 Jan

@WHOSTP

🧵Some quick comments on the @WHOSTP science integrity report released today (just in time for my first grad seminar meeting of the semester, so thanks for that!) . . .

https://twitter.com/WHOSTP/status/1480896893198778379

1⃣ The report does not define "scientific integrity" -- which is a problem because you cannot regulate that which is undefined ... and Potter Stewart imprecision won't do ... the report does say that future work of the Task Force will come up with a definition

@PaulTonko

2⃣ Notably missing is any discussion of congressional scientific integrity legislation, notable legislation introduced by @PaulTonko w/ 140+ bipartisan co-sponsors
tonko.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…

Reason is likely that Biden Admin doesn't want to cede any oversight power to Congress

Read 6 tweets

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

10 Jan

@MunichRe

🧵
@MunichRe today published their estimates for natural disaster losses in 2021, allowing me to update the time series of global disaster losses as a proportion of global GDP

This thread reports and discusses this update

TL;DR --> Figure below

Munich Re reports ~$270B in total weather and climate disasters losses for 2021, which is 0.28% global GDP

Previous 4 years:

2020= $194B, 0.23%
2019= $151B, 0.17%
2018= $150B, 0.18%
2017= $329B, 0.41%

1990-2021
Median= 0.21%
Average= 0.23%

https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1472247466397356034?s=20

Munich Re reports US saw ~$145B of the total global losses (~54% of weather/climate losses)

According to FEMA, in 2021 the US should have expected $141B in weather/climate disaster losses

In principle, US & global losses are in line with expectations

https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1472247466397356034?s=20

Read 8 tweets

Roger Pielke Jr.

@RogerPielkeJr

7 Jan

"Spotting is an influential form of wildfire spread whereby firebrands (i.e. burning pieces of vegetation or other combustible materials) are blown into unburnt fuels and ignite separate new ‘spot fire'"
Storey et al. 2020
publish.csiro.au/WF/pdf/WF19124

Albini, F. A. (1983). Potential spotting distance from wind-driven surface fires (Vol. 309). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
frames.gov/documents/beha…

This is an incredibly interesting paper:

Pitts, W. M. (1991). Wind effects on fires. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 17(2), 83-134.
doi.org/10.1016/0360-1…

Read 11 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Share this page!

Roger Pielke Jr.

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @RogerPielkeJr

Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger Pielke Jr.

Roger Pielke Jr.

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?