Share this page!

Alina Chan Profile picture
Twitter logo
Feb 27 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
I wasn't aware that it is scientific misconduct to alert editors to the fact that key data is missing in a paper.
Image
To facilitate discussion, here it is, the text in their preprint that says they can't verify the data, don't have key data, but believe their analysis is robust.
If your preprint hasn't even been submitted for consideration, why is it on the front page of the @nytimes ??
@nytimes Please don't make me regret saying that the authors of the preprint are generally very good on other research topics.
For people who want to know what the problem with their analysis is that I think editors and peer reviewers should pay attention to:

• • •

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

Keep Current with Alina Chan

Alina Chan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

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

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Ayjchan

Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 27
It's important to remember that a single individual can get some things right and other things really wrong.

For example, some scientists & journalists are fantastic at precisely explaining new variants and vaccine efficacy, but somehow terrible on the topic of #OriginOfCovid
It's tempting to assume the rest of their research or reporting might be similarly poor, but I know that these scientists and journalists are generally doing an incredible job in other areas. I just wish that they would apply similar standards of rigor to #OriginOfCovid
I'm really sure that, most of the time, these scientists and journalists are aware that you need to have complete data before making confident assertions.
Read 5 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 27
If you were taken in by the beautiful figures in the new Proximal Origin preprints, please get in touch with @sciencecohen
@sciencecohen The authors' own words, not mine.
Imagine if the same approach was applied to clinical trials of covid-19 vaccines. "We don't know if the data is authentic. We don't have the full data. But we're sure our analysis is robust."

Should science journalists be seeking out scientists who were convinced by the paper?
Read 9 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 27
The coverage of the newest preprints by the Proximal Origin authors and friends must be breaking some kind of record.

Has anyone else heard of preprints being featured on @nytimes front-page news? Not to mention at the same time as a war is starting.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Glad to see that many of the @nytimes subscribers who commented on the article have solid critical thinking abilities.

To quote one of them:
"I wish @carlzimmer had taken the time to do more research before writing this article."
@nytimes @carlzimmer It's great that this @nytimes front-page news article is being proactively archived at different times to show its evolution as @carlzimmer appears to be reading the work and updating his article with figures and pictures from the preprints.
archive.fo/https://www.ny…
Read 21 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 25
My stance on some controversial hypotheses being floated:

1. RaTG13 is not the parent of SARS-CoV-2.
2. Omicron most likely evolved naturally.
3. The SARS2 furin cleavage site did not come from a Moderna patent and
4. It did not come from the human ENaC protein.
Importantly, none of the above need to be true in order for the #OriginOfCovid to be lab-related or to have involved genetic engineering.

I don't understand why some people are making the issue so weird and complicated.
By their own grant documents and research publications, the scientists were engaged in the type of virus discovery and manipulation research that could've plausibly led to the emergence of SARS2.

No need for any Moderna, ENaC protein, RaTG13 shenanigans.
Read 25 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 21
It's difficult for me to understand why it has been so difficult for the NIH to tell us what it knows about the coronavirus research that was happening in Wuhan as part of an international collaboration.
theintercept.com/2022/02/20/nih…
From the few non-redacted pages in this FOIA'ed document, you can see that there are also emails describing post-pandemic Covid-19 response research mixed into this batch. We don't know if there are more EcoHealth-related content under the 292 pages of redactions.
But @theintercept tells us that "The NIH still had more than 1,400 pages of relevant documents in its possession... the agency appears to have no urgency to make this critical information public."
theintercept.com/2022/02/20/nih…
Read 5 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Feb 20
Just listened to @joerogan convo with @mtosterholm
Dr Osterholm's expertise in epidemiology shines. I also appreciated how he handled #OriginOfCovid questions like a scientist - being honest when he doesn't know or is relying on the judgment of his peers.
open.spotify.com/episode/5VSukF…
@joerogan @mtosterholm Many of the problems scientists have gotten into during the pandemic have involved trying to send overly simplistic or confident messages to the public when there is still too much unknown or when data has yet to be collected.
The public needs to get used to hearing scientists say that they don't know (yet), or that particular topics are outside of their expertise, or that they have not had time to look into specific issues even if it is within their wheelhouse.
Read 16 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

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

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

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!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @Ayjchan has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @Ayjchan!

Read all threads by @Ayjchan

:(