Yesterday, they announced that The Center For Open Science was making $1.3mm available, via ScienceExchange, to reproduce and validate 50 important cancer biology studies.

I am excited about this for a bunch of reasons; 1) reproducing and validating research is critical, 2) The Center For Open Science is taking a marketplace model to funding this work, and 3) it points to the broader potential for Science Exchange to break down silos, open up research, and lead to better and faster scientific discovery.


http://www.businessinsider.com/open-science-2013-10

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This sort of thing belongs in the open thread.

[-][anonymous]70

I disagree. I prefer on topic discussions on reproducing scientific research. Many are quick to link reproduction failure rates, but few are willing to do better.

The timing of this announcement is interesting. It happened during a government shutdown.

Money to fund important scientific research is still there. This project is among other things founded by Sloan foundation money. The Sloan foundation is the biggest donor of Wikipedia. Other money comes from John D. Arnold's foundation. Arnold made his money via a hedge fund. A third donor is unspecified which means he's probably also a rich philanthrope.

Is the NIH too disfunctional to spend money for reproduction and therefore private philanthropy has to take over?