The journal Science has retracted a controversial paper that claimed a microorganism could survive on arsenic, following changing criteria for retractions. The editor-in-chief stated the decision was due to a lack of support for the paper's key conclusions, although initially, no misconduct was found. While some scientists, like Rosie Redfield, welcomed the retraction to clarify misconceptions, co-author Ariel Anbar argued that the data is still valid and should not be retracted simply due to differing interpretations. The original study, published in 2010, had raised immediate skepticism in the scientific community.
Science's retraction statement indicates that the criteria for retractions have expanded, now including cases where reported experiments do not support key conclusions of a paper.
Microbiologist Rosie Redfield notes that while the work was mistaken, retraction is important to avoid confusing newcomers to the literature.
Geochemist Ariel Anbar, a co-author of the retracted paper, insists that their data contains no mistakes and disputes should not lead to retraction.
The original study on arsenic life was published in 2010 and immediately raised skepticism in the scientific community.
Collection
[
|
...
]