Show me the data.From molecular genetics molecular genetics n. The branch of genetics that deals with hereditary transmission and variation on the molecular level. to brain imaging, neuroscientists churn out so much data that only a small fraction ever appears in their published work. And therein lies a conflict. Efforts now under way would require neuroscientists to make all of their data available for analysis by other researchers. That has inspired praise from some quarters and criticism from others. In the September NATURE NEUROSCIENCE Nature Neuroscience is a scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group, the publisher of Nature. Its focus is original research papers relating specifically to neuroscience. , Stephen H. Koslow of the National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of the federal government of the United States and the largest research organization in the world specializing in mental illness. in Bethesda, Md., argues that neuroscientists need to establish a system to pool and analyze experimental data. Koslow heads a government-funded initiative attempting to organize a network of databases that would serve as a library of neuroscience neu·ro·sci·ence n. Any of the sciences, such as neuroanatomy and neurobiology, that deal with the nervous system. neuroscience the embryology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology of the nervous system. information. Data sharing The ability to share the same data resource with multiple applications or users. It implies that the data are stored in one or more servers in the network and that there is some software locking mechanism that prevents the same set of data from being changed by two people at the same time. through such a system will yield better experiments and faster scientific advances, he predicts. Still, many investigators worry that by immediately giving away all of their data, other scientists will use it to beat them to the punch with new revelations. Stay tuned, says Koslow. |
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