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SciTech | Dec 03, 2024 | 13 min read Scientists gather to decode puzzle of the world’s rarest whale

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Beaked whales is the world’s rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever spotted

Dodgy science in the crosshairs as fraud audit skewers Australia’s top research agency

Professor Lyle Gurrin, a University of Melbourne biostatistician who has published on research integrity, said that could prompt a shake-up in the way research fraud and misconduct is policed in Australia.Loading“I would expect that would have ramifications for every institution receiving funding from the NHMRC,” Gurrin said.“It seems weird they are doling out $1.5 billion in grants and yet, as far as I can see, there is no process to investigate the integrity of the work that is done with those funds.“That’s the attitude: the best way to prevent fraud is to hope that people don’t do it.”A spokeswoman for the NHMRC said it was working to address the auditor’s findings.“The ANAO concluded that NHMRC has appropriate mechanisms in place for internal fraud control, but that there are inadequate mechanisms in place to prevent, detect and investigate fraud risks relating to grant recipients,” she said.“The audit does not state nor imply that institutional fraud risk controls are inadequate, or that undetected fraud is occurring in health and medical research.”‘No reliable or accurate data’The NHMRC oversees research integrity in Australia. Under its code for responsible research, universities must immediately warn it when there are allegations of fraud.But in practice, the auditor found, the NHMRC had allowed universities to keep things to themselves unless they decided to launch a formal investigation. Even then, the university was not required to hand the investigative report over.“As a result, the NHMRC does not have accurate or reliable data upon which to properly assess grant-related fraud risks,” the auditor warns.The report found that the NHMRC has not overseen a single investigation into suspected grant fraud, despite funding at least 41 scientific papers that have been pulled from the scientific record in the past 15 years.It maintains two registers of fraud and misconduct in spreadsheets, but they don’t match each other and aren’t fit for purpose, the report found.Preventing grant fraud almost wholly relied on the “untested assurances” of the scientists and universities it gave the money to, the auditor said. The auditor also found the NHMRC’s 199 staff lacked basic training in stopping fraud – even the ones in charge of preventing it.The NHMRC received 139 research integrity notifications between 2018 and 2023, according to documents released to this masthead through a freedom of information request.LoadingThe report found that when suspected fraud was detected, the agency had no way of investigating it, relying wholly on universities to check if they had misspent taxpayer money. The NHMRC does not check if universities have conducted a proper probe, or get a copy of any investigations that are undertaken.The only case of fraud it recorded was caught by another research institute, which informed the NHMRC that at least $2.6 million had been spent on research that was never conducted. The NHMRC briefed federal Health Minister Mark Butler on the matter only two weeks after being notified of the fraud. Its brief consisted of a printout of a media release and other newspaper articles.In another case, an audit of 33 grant applications by researchers discovered 11 were ineligible for funding, despite all passing the NHMRC’s checks. NHMRC staff did not tell the chief executive or risk committee about this, the report found.Major NHMRC study pulled after copied images discoveredIn November, PLOS ONE journal retracted a study led by Dr Nady Braidy, a senior research fellow at the University of NSW, on the potential anti-aging molecule NAD+. The NHMRC shows he received a $1.5 million grant from it in 2021 to study NAD+.The study claimed to show NAD+ levels fell as lab rats got older. It has been cited more than 600 times, while NAD+ has exploded as an anti-ageing supplement.But a note from PLOS ONE’s editors said several of the images in the article, purportedly from different experiments, appeared “similar to each other across two or more figure panels”.PLOS ONE said the authors had subsequently not provided the underlying data that supported the published results. “As such, PLOS cannot resolve the concerns about the similarities between the articles.”The retracted Braidy paper was not referred to in the ANAO report. There has not been any suggestion of fraud by Braidy or any of the other authors.LoadingThe NHMRC declined to comment on the case or say whether it would be seeking to recover taxpayer funding, citing privacy concerns.The University of NSW said it had worked with PLOS ONE to retract the article. It did not answer questions on whether it would be repaying the funding to the NHMRC.The authors of the article, including Braidy, did not respond to requests for comment.

These scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. Turns out, it’s good for them

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In Kelly Lambert’s lab at the University of Richmond, rats are trained to drive tiny cars. Researchers are studying how that training, and the anticipation associated with it, affects their brains.

University of Richmond

University of Richmond

In neuroscientist Kelly Lambert’s lab at the University of Richmond, rats hop into cars, rev their engines, and skid across the floor of an arena. Once they maneuver their vehicles across the finish line, they receive praise … and a Froot Loop reward. Why? It turns out the answer reinforces the age-old saying: It’s about the journey, not the destination. That’s because the majority of the lab rats seem to prefer driving to their Froot Loops to walking to them. “It’s amazing what their little brains can do,” says Lambert, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Richmond. “It’s humbling.”
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Today on the show, Short Wave host Regina G. Barber talks with Kelly about her lab’s driving rats and what they tell us about anticipation, neuroplasticity and decision making. Plus, why optimism might be good for rats — and for humans, too. Want to hear more fun animal stories? Let us know at [email protected] — we read every email. Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer.

Scientists discover lost ‘big head’ human species in Asia: study

Researchers have uncovered new insights into a long-lost human species known for their particularly hefty craniums, according to a recent study.

The Julurens — or “big head” people — are twisting scientists’ long-accepted understanding of human evolution.

How humans came to be is largely understood to have been a linear process, starting with apelike ancestors like Lucy who evolved into different variations over time until today’s people walked the Earth.

Virtual reconstruction of the Harbin cranium, a newly discovered human species named Homo longi or ‘Dragon Man’, from Northeast China. EUREKALERT!/AFP via Getty Images

But paleoanthropologists Christopher Bae and Xiujie Wu, the researchers behind the study, are challenging this with their new conclusions about the Homo juluensis based on fossils from eastern Asia during the Late Quaternary era.

The Julurens lived approximately 300,000 years ago and survived in small groups across eastern Asia before disappearing around 50,000 years ago, according to the study.

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Bae and Wu — hailing from Hawaii and China, respectively — found that Eastern Asia was home to a slew of other distinct human species at the same time — suggesting that a network of different human-esque populations not only coexisted but interacted and even mixed over time.

The duo identified four human species that existed during this time: Homo floresiensis, a exceedingly small “hobbit” human found on the Indonesian island of Flores; Homo luzonensis from the Philippines; Homo longi of China; and the recently named Homo juluensis.

Diagram depicting various hominin sites in central Asia and the respective fossil skulls discovered there. C. Bae and X. Wu

Each species carried distinct characteristics that were eventually phased out over evolution. Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis were both small and compact, while Homo longi and Homo juluensis had bulbous heads.

“We did not expect being able to propose a new hominin (human ancestor) species and then to be able to organize the hominin fossils from Asia into different groups. Ultimately, this should help with science communication,” Bae said in a University of Hawaii at Manoa release.

Close-up view of a Neanderthal skull. Bruder – stock.adobe.com

The breakthrough adds much-needed clarity to eastern Asian fossil records, which have been lacking compared to other discoveries traced to Europe and Africa, the researchers said.

The study, however, isn’t infallible.

Not all of the fossils used are complete, and researchers still don’t fully understand the genetic relationships between the species. The study does indicate a possible breakthrough that could shatter the accepted models of human evolution, but for now, it remains just a theory.