Two weeks after the release of a major study on the possibility of life based on arsenic at Mono Lake, California a torrent of criticism in the blogosphere has transformed a widely scientific triumph in a scientific soccer - ball with consequences very discussed for how research is evaluated and presented in the future.
After remained largely silent criticism - entered respected scientists as well as posters misinformed - researchers, their funders of NASA and the prestigious magazine published article responded Thursday with promises to better explain the work and meet formal review.
But in the rapidly changing Internet world, it is also clear that those involved would really know how to respond without compromising their scientific methods and their values.
Speaking at a round table conference in San Francisco science, specially convened to discuss the research of arsenic and online response, study co-author Ronald Oremland of the United States Geological Survey defended his silence as forming an integral part of the process of scientific research has tried-and-true.
"I am trained to go to the laboratory and my experiences, send to newspapers if they deserve and hope that they have passed the peer review", he said. Responding to criticism, he said, when submitting data and scientific arguments.
He said that when people launch attacks online on the work done by him and biochemist Felisa Wolfe-Simon, he doesn't really know who is behind them. "I want to participate in what may end up in a situation of Jerry Springer, with chairs, people start" he said.
However, not only was Oremland panel Thursday by blogs, but team research also released a series of answers to frequently asked questions about their work and has promised to respond by the month next to more than 20 letters and e-mails sent to the magazine science challenged in their work. The team announced that he would samples available microbes to other scientists in their research.
Spokesperson for science Ginger Pinholster said the journal hopes to publish letters and responses in March. She said that while other science documents led the challenges and critical, speed and intensity of the response of the blogosphere to arsenic is unusual, if not unique.
Discussion paper active online started even before it was released. Based on an announcement from NASA on the release of a forthcoming study with implications for Astrobiology and "extraterrestrial life", some bloggers have been predicting the news of life on the moon Titan or elsewhere in the solar system.
Rather, the involved finding microbes of Mono Lake in California, which were grown replaced so most of the phosphorus in the body, long as it is essential for life) with generally toxic arsenic. Using some of the most sophisticated tools available, the team determined then arsenic had replaced the phosphorus in the DNA and other bacteria - creating a form of long-lived key molecules impossible.
The NASA Press Conference who presented the study included a sceptic, respected chemist Steven Benner, but that has not prevented the bloggers by accusing the NASA meet history and unconditionally erroneous presentation of research. The first major blog address labour was posted by Rosie Redfield, Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia Colombia.
"Basically, there is no convincing evidence that arsenic has been incorporated into DNA (or any other biological molecule)," she wrote. She accused Wolfe-Simon careless testing and laboratory work team not if their results were correct.
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