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Some researchers say the African coral tree has a racial slur embedded in its name. This month, scientists at an international meeting voted to have that epithet removed. tree-species/Flickr hide caption

Some plant names can be racist. Scientists are looking to rename them

July 31, 2024 • An international group of researchers has voted to modify the scientific names of more than 200 plant species whose names carry a derogatory word.

Researchers are revising botanical names to address troubling connotations

A key protein called Reelin may help stave off Alzheimer's disease, according to a growing body of research. GSO Images/The Image Bank/Getty Images hide caption

Shots - Health News

A protein called reelin keeps popping up in brains that resist aging and alzheimer’s.

July 29, 2024 • Early in life, the protein Reelin helps assemble the brain. Later on, it appears to protect the organ from Alzheimer’s and other threats to memory and thinking.

Alzheimer's resilience

There are over eight hundred species of leeches, but researchers estimate that only ten percent of all leeches are terrestrial. Auscape/Contributor/Getty Images hide caption

We hate to tell you this, but there are leeches that can jump

July 29, 2024 • Generally, we at Short Wave are open-minded to the creepies and the crawlies, but even we must admit that leeches are already the stuff of nightmares. They lurk in water. They drink blood. There are over 800 different species of them. And now, as scientists have confirmed ... at least some of them can jump!

Two chimpanzees groom each other — a behavior that can involve several gestures. Anup Shah/Getty Images hide caption

What chimpanzee gestures reveal about human communication

July 26, 2024 • Chimpanzees are humans' closest living relatives. But does much of their communication resembles ours? According to a new study published earlier this week in the journal Current Biology , chimpanzees gesture back-and-forth in a similar way to how humans take turns speaking. The research presents an intriguing possibility that this style of communication may have evolved before humans split off from great apes, and tells researchers more about how turn-taking evolved.

Project RattleCam lets people observe rattlesnakes with a live webcam. Scott Boback hide caption

Watch a livestream of Colorado’s ‘mega den’ of pregnant rattlesnakes

July 24, 2024 • On a rocky hillside in Colorado is a “mega den” of hundreds of rattlesnakes — along with cameras livestreaming the whole thing.

 Pregnant Rattlesnakes Webcam

Glyptodonts were giant, armadillo-like shelled mammals that went extinct about 10,000 years ago. A study reveals that cut marks on a glyptodont fossil in South America could have been made by humans a little over 20,000 years ago. Daniel Eskridge/Stocktrek Images/Science Source hide caption

When did humans get to South America? This giant shelled mammal fossil may hold clues

July 23, 2024 • A fossil of an armadillo-like mammal appears to bear cut marks from butchering by humans, suggesting people were living in South America at least 20,000 years ago, even earlier than once thought.

Ancient Armadillos

Once completed, India's National River Linking Project will transfer an estimated 200 billion cubic meters of water around the country each year. STRDEL / Stringer/Getty Images hide caption

India's plan to reroute rivers could have unintended consequences on rainfall

July 19, 2024 • More than a hundred years ago, a British engineer proposed linking two rivers in India to better irrigate the area and cheaply move goods. The link never happened, but the idea survived. Today, due to extreme flooding in some parts of the country mirrored by debilitating drought in others, India's National Water Development Agency plans to dig thirty links between rivers across the country. It's the largest project of its kind and will take decades to complete. But scientists are worried what moving that much water could do to the land, the people — and even the weather. Host Emily Kwong talks to journalist Sushmita Pathak about her recent story on the project.

In 2022, a large, unexpected rogue wave struck the Viking Polaris, breaking windows. One passenger died and others were injured. Alexis Delisi/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Rogue waves can strike without warning. These scientists found a way to predict them

July 18, 2024 • Scientists have created a new tool that can give 5 minutes advance warning of a dangerous rogue wave in the ocean.

A study finds that psilocybin can desynchronize networks in the brain, potentially enhancing its plasticity. Sara Moser/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis hide caption

A scientist took a psychedelic drug — and watched his own brain 'fall apart'

July 18, 2024 • Scientists scanned the brains of people who took psilocybin, including a member of the research team. The scans showed how the drug disrupts key networks, potentially enhancing brain plasticity.

A prominent brain scientist took psilocybin as part of his own brain study

Crows can be trained to count out loud much in the way that human toddlers do, a study finds. Andreas Nieder/Universal Images Group Editorial hide caption

Crows can count out loud like human toddlers — when they aren't cheating the test

July 18, 2024 • A study finds that carrion crows can be taught to count and make vocalizations that indicate the number counted, much in the same way that human toddlers do.

Crows can count vocally like toddlers, research shows

An image released by the FDA shows bottles containing tianeptine and other compounds. Authorities have urged gas station store owners and others not to sell the products, with names like Neptune's Fix, Za Za and Tianaa, citing serious health risks. FDA hide caption

8 things to know about the drug known as 'gas station heroin'

July 14, 2024 • For decades, tianeptine was used to treat depression, even though no one knew how it worked. But it turns out it's a type of opioid, and the U.S. is facing a spike in abuse of "gas station heroin."

Researchers found that AI could increase the creativity of individual writers, but it also led to many similar stories. Moor Studio/Getty Images hide caption

Research shows AI can boost creativity for some, but at a cost

July 12, 2024 • Amateur writers using AI tools produced stories that were deemed more creative, but the research suggests the creativity of the group overall went down.

The star cluster Omega Centauri contains millions of stars. The movement of some stars suggests that an intermediate-sized black hole lies at its center. NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA hide caption

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars

July 10, 2024 • A report from Nature shows that astronomers may have found a medium-sized black hole, a kind they've long looked for.

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars.

Some ants, like the Florida carpenter ant, treat the injured legs of comrades, and will even perform medical amputations when necessary. Zen Rial/Getty Images hide caption

Like humans, these ants can perform leg amputations to save lives

July 10, 2024 • Some ants herd aphids. Some farm fungi. And now, scientists have realized that when an ant injures its leg, it sometimes will turn to a buddy to perform a lifesaving limb amputation. Not only that — some ants have probably been amputating limbs longer than humans! Today, thanks to the reporting of ant enthusiast and science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce, we behold the medical prowess of the ant.

A generic drug that's used to treat transplant patients has been shown to extend the life span of some animals. Guido Mieth/Getty Images hide caption

Rapamycin may slow aging. Here's one way the drug will be tested

July 1, 2024 • Longevity researchers are taking a generic drug they think may help extend people's lives. Now a dentist is testing if rapamycin stops gum disease — a canary in the coal mine for age-related diseases.

Anti-aging drug Rapamycin to prevent gum disease 

Paleontologist Dany Azar holds up one of his treasures that he discovered in Lebanon in a piece of amber from the early Cretaceous: The oldest mosquito ever found. Ari Daniel/For NPR hide caption

In Lebanon, the 'Amber Man' digs up golden time capsules from the age of the dinosaurs

June 28, 2024 • When dinosaurs reigned some 130 million years ago, flowering plants were taking over the world. That change is sealed in ancient amber specimens on the slopes of Lebanon that Danny Azar knows so well.

Reconstruction of a Lokiceratops rangiformis being surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps that would have existed in what is now northern Montana. Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution hide caption

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

June 28, 2024 • A brand new species of ceratops, or horned dinosaur, was recently discovered in northern Montana. The dinosaur is called Lokiceratops rangiformis , after the Norse god Loki, and is believed to have lived roughly eighty million years ago. The bones of the plant-eating dinosaur were found on private land in an area well known for its large amount of fossils, and at first, researchers thought the bones belonged to another species of dinosaur!

Joro spider sits in the middle of a spider web. GummyBone/Getty Images hide caption

Why you shouldn't worry about invasive Joro spiders

June 14, 2024 • Joro spiders are spreading across the east coast. They are an invasive species that most likely arrived in shipping containers from eastern Asia. Today, we look into why some people find them scary, why to not panic about them and what their trajectory illustrates about the wider issue of invasive species.

Later this year, the FDA plans to decide whether MDMA can be used to treat PTSD Eva Almqvist/Getty Images hide caption

Misconduct claims may derail MDMA psychedelic treatment for PTSD

June 3, 2024 • People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may soon have a new treatment option: MDMA, the chemical found in ecstasy. In August, the Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD will be approved for market based on years of research. But serious allegations of research misconduct may derail the approval timeline.

Former President Donald Trump holds a press conference following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

Trump repeats claims — without evidence — that his trial was rigged

May 31, 2024 • Former President Donald Trump reiterated many of claims — without evidence — that his criminal trial was rigged, a day after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Researchers have detected microplastics in human testicles. Volodymyr Zakharov/Getty Images hide caption

Plastic junk? Researchers find tiny particles in men's testicles

May 22, 2024 • The new study has scientists concerned that microplastics may be contributing to reproductive health issues.

Harlan Gough holds a recently collected tiger beetle on a tether. Lawrence Reeves hide caption

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

May 22, 2024 • A study of tiger beetles has found a possible explanation for why they produce ultrasound noises right before an echolocating bat swoops in for the kill.

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Science, health, and public trust.

September 8, 2021

Explaining How Research Works

We’ve heard “follow the science” a lot during the pandemic. But it seems science has taken us on a long and winding road filled with twists and turns, even changing directions at times. That’s led some people to feel they can’t trust science. But when what we know changes, it often means science is working.

Explaining the scientific process may be one way that science communicators can help maintain public trust in science. Placing research in the bigger context of its field and where it fits into the scientific process can help people better understand and interpret new findings as they emerge. A single study usually uncovers only a piece of a larger puzzle.

Questions about how the world works are often investigated on many different levels. For example, scientists can look at the different atoms in a molecule, cells in a tissue, or how different tissues or systems affect each other. Researchers often must choose one or a finite number of ways to investigate a question. It can take many different studies using different approaches to start piecing the whole picture together.

Sometimes it might seem like research results contradict each other. But often, studies are just looking at different aspects of the same problem. Researchers can also investigate a question using different techniques or timeframes. That may lead them to arrive at different conclusions from the same data.

Using the data available at the time of their study, scientists develop different explanations, or models. New information may mean that a novel model needs to be developed to account for it. The models that prevail are those that can withstand the test of time and incorporate new information. Science is a constantly evolving and self-correcting process.

Scientists gain more confidence about a model through the scientific process. They replicate each other’s work. They present at conferences. And papers undergo peer review, in which experts in the field review the work before it can be published in scientific journals. This helps ensure that the study is up to current scientific standards and maintains a level of integrity. Peer reviewers may find problems with the experiments or think different experiments are needed to justify the conclusions. They might even offer new ways to interpret the data.

It’s important for science communicators to consider which stage a study is at in the scientific process when deciding whether to cover it. Some studies are posted on preprint servers for other scientists to start weighing in on and haven’t yet been fully vetted. Results that haven't yet been subjected to scientific scrutiny should be reported on with care and context to avoid confusion or frustration from readers.

We’ve developed a one-page guide, "How Research Works: Understanding the Process of Science" to help communicators put the process of science into perspective. We hope it can serve as a useful resource to help explain why science changes—and why it’s important to expect that change. Please take a look and share your thoughts with us by sending an email to  [email protected].

Below are some additional resources:

• Discoveries in Basic Science: A Perfectly Imperfect Process
• When Clinical Research Is in the News
• What is Basic Science and Why is it Important?
• ​ What is a Research Organism?
• What Are Clinical Trials and Studies?
• Basic Research – Digital Media Kit
• Decoding Science: How Does Science Know What It Knows? (NAS)
• Can Science Help People Make Decisions ? (NAS)

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How to Conduct Scientific Research?

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines research as systematic and creative actions taken to increase knowledge about humans, culture, and society and to apply it in new areas of interest. Scientific research is the research performed by applying systematic and constructed scientific methods to obtain, analyze, and interpret data.

Scientific research is the neutral, systematic, planned, and multiple-step process that uses previously discovered facts to advance knowledge that does not exist in the literature. It can be classified as observational or experimental with respect to data collection techniques, descriptive or analytical with respect to causality, and prospective, retrospective, or cross-sectional with respect to time ( 1 ).

All scientific investigations start with a specific research question and the formulation of a hypothesis to answer this question. Hypothesis should be clear, specific, and directly aim to answer the research question. A strong and testable hypothesis is the fundamental part of the scientific research. The next step is testing the hypothesis using scientific method to approve or disapprove it.

Scientific method should be neutral, objective, rational, and as a result, should be able to approve or disapprove the hypothesis. The research plan should include the procedure to obtain data and evaluate the variables. It should ensure that analyzable data are obtained. It should also include plans on the statistical analysis to be performed. The number of subjects and controls needed to get valid statistical results should be calculated, and data should be obtained in appropriate numbers and methods. The researcher should be continuously observing and recording all data obtained.

Data should be analyzed with the most appropriate statistical methods and be rearranged to make more sense if needed. Unfortunately, results obtained via analyses are not always sufficiently clear. Multiple reevaluations of data, review of the literature, and interpretation of results in light of previous research are required. Only after the completion of these stages can a research be written and presented to the scientific society. A well-conducted and precisely written research should always be open to scientific criticism. It should also be kept in mind that research should be in line with ethical rules all through its stages.

Actually, psychiatric research has been developing rapidly, possibly even more than any other medical field, thus reflecting the utilization of new research methods and advanced treatment technologies. Nevertheless, basic research principles and ethical considerations keep their importance.

Ethics are standards used to differentiate acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Adhering to ethical standards in scientific research is noteworthy because of many different reasons. First, these standards promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote truth and minimize error. In addition, ethical standards promote values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. Many ethical standards in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data-sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Many ethical standards such as policies on research misconduct and conflicts of interest are necessary to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public. Last but not the least, ethical standards of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety ( 2 ). In conclusion, for the good of science and humanity, research has the inevitable responsibility of precisely transferring the knowledge to new generations ( 3 ).

In medical research, all clinical investigations are obliged to comply with some ethical principles. These principles could be summarized as respect to humans, respect to the society, benefit, harmlessness, autonomy, and justice. Respect to humans indicates that all humans have the right to refuse to participate in an investigation or to withdraw their consent any time without any repercussions. Respect to society indicates that clinical research should seek answers to scientific questions using scientific methods and should benefit the society. Benefit indicates that research outcomes are supposed to provide solutions to a health problem. Harmlessness describes all necessary precautions that are taken to protect volunteers from potential harm. Autonomy indicates that participating in research is voluntary and with freewill. Justice indicates that subject selection is based on justice and special care is taken for special groups that could be easily traumatized ( 4 ).

In psychiatric studies, if the patient is not capable of giving consent, the relatives have the right to consent on behalf of the patient. This is based on the idea of providing benefit to the patient with discovery of new treatment methods via research. However, the relatives’ consent rights are under debate from an ethical point of view. On the other hand, research on those patients aim to directly get new knowledge about them, and it looks like an inevitable necessity. The only precaution that could be taken to overcome this ambivalence has been the scrupulous audit of the Research Ethic Committees. Still, there are many examples that show that this method is not always able to prevent patient abuse ( 5 ). Therefore, it is difficult to claim autonomy when psychiatric patients are studied, and psychiatric patients are considered among patients to require special care.

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Academic Research

Raysonho/ Wikimedia Commons. Academic research can be intense, stimulating, and rewarding. But it is important to know that a research career involves many activities besides research. Scientists spend their time writing applications for funding to do research, as well as writing scientific papers to report the findings of their research. In addition, they spend time presenting their research in oral or poster form to other scientists at group meetings, institutional meetings, and scientific conferences; they also spend time teaching students about their field of study. A scientist's life is often full of tasks that need to be done and most scientists work very hard, but they also love what they do.

Fields of Study

• Clinical Scientist: David Fredricks
• Epidemiologist: Gloria Coronado
• Geneticist: Katie Peichel
• Clinical Research: Dana Panteleef
• Research Technician: Nanna Hansen

If you're interested in a general sense in academic research, the first thing to figure out is which field of research is best for you.

The fundamental task of research is asking questions. There are many areas of research in the life sciences, and they generally fall into three categories based on the types of questions that are asked and the tools that are used to answer the questions:

Basic Research

Clinical research, population-based research.

Basic researchers ask questions about how fundamental life processes work. Examples of questions include the following:

• What are the mechanisms that determine how and when cells divide?
• How do DNA mutations associated with a disease occur?
• How and why do cells age?
• How and why does one type of cell work differently from another type of cell?

Basic researchers usually work in laboratories with other scientists, usually with one faculty member leading a group of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and lab technicians who do most of the lab work. The hours can be very long and the work can be challenging, especially for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Basic researchers often ask their questions using model organisms, including yeast, worms, flies, fish, and mice.

• Scientific Recruiter: Scott Canavera
• Staff Scientist: Tom Paulson
• Shared Resources: Julie Randolph-Habecker
• Faculty Member: Wendy Leisenring

Clinical researchers ask questions about how disease occurs and how it can be cured in humans. Examples of questions include the following:

• How can we manipulate the body's immune system to improve treatment of a disease?
• How can we create a drug to improve disease survival?
• What are the long-term impacts of treatment on quality of life?

Clinical researchers work in laboratories that are very similar to basic researchers, but they often work with human tissue samples to ask their questions. Many clinical researchers find it rewarding to work on a question that may have an impact that they will eventually see come to fruition. At the same time, when you're working with human tissue, you usually have a limited amount of it so the risks of making a mistake that will lose your sample could be high. Clinical researchers will often collaborate with biostatisticians to best design and analyze their studies in order to yield the maximum amount of relevant information.

Population-based research is done by epidemiologists who ask questions to determine how diet, genetics, and lifestyle may influence the risk of disease. They ask these questions in one of two ways:

• by following a group of people over time and correlating exposure to who gets a disease;
• by asking a group of people with a disease about their lifestyle and diet choices and comparing the data to a randomly chosen group without the disease in order to look for differences between the two groups.

The types of questions they ask include the following:

• How can we best prevent teenagers from starting to smoke?
• Do some genetic variants place a person at greater risk for cancer?
• Do vitamins help prevent cancer?
• Does exposure to certain chemicals increase the risk of getting a particular disease?

Epidemiologists also collaborate with biostatisticians in order to design and analyze studies so they can get the most information from them. Rather than work in a lab, epidemiologists often need no more than a desk and computer. However, the interdisciplinary field of molecular epidemiology is changing this, and many epidemiologists ask questions about how a particular gene can influence disease risk, rather than, or in addition to, a lifestyle exposure.

Roles in Research

Faculty member.

Faculty members usually have Ph.D.'s or M.D.'s and have gone through graduate school or medical school followed by several years of being a postdoctoral fellow or medical resident. A faculty member is the leader of their own lab or work group and determines the direction of the research in their group. Most faculty members spend a good deal of their time writing grant proposals and manuscripts, reading research papers, reviewing colleagues' manuscripts and grant proposals, thinking and talking with others about their research to gain new ideas, and mentoring the people in their group.

Faculty positions are usually very competitive to get and are often a result of hard work over many years. However, most faculty members love what they do and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Research Scientist

Shared resource specialist, technician and other support staff, administrative positions.

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