Hello Steemit! I'm Mack, a scientist
I'm here to write about research in a way that is accessible to non-scientists, yet informative to even the biggest nerds. I'll post regularly about my work, and other exciting topics. My interests: neuroscience and metascience.
Why neuroscience?
Neuroscience is the study of the brain, the organ that shapes how we experience life. How are we able to observe and imagine the world around us? Why do we feel how we feel? This field offers a peek under the lid of our own skulls. I've even gotten to take a peek under my own, check it out!
A selfie, in a way. Don't I look good?
I work in a lab that studies the brain using non-invasive fMRI scanners. These let us examine neural differences between people who are diagnosed with different mood disorders (such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia). Want to learn more about what fMRI is, how it works, and my lab's research? Stay tuned! That's worth a post of its own.
Why metascience?
Metascience is the science of science. When science has a problem, we need to take a step back and look at what's going on, and how to fix it.
Putting the microscope under the microscope: how do we know what we know?
Unfortunately, that's not hypothetical situation. Science may be in a replication crisis. Recently, scientists could not replicate the results of up to 89% of prominent cancer studies, 66% of psychology studies, and 50% of life science studies. This is a big deal, and governments and businesses might be throwing away millions on unreliable results. What's going on?
In short: bad incentives, weak methods, and poor statistics! My metascience efforts centers around statistics in particular. I work on programs that download scientific articles, scan them for statistics, and generate automated analyses for each one.
Soon, I'll launch an online database containing over hundreds of thousands of these analyses, and the raw data and programs that made them. Through good statistics, we can better understand the results of old research and tackle the reproducibility crisis. Stay tuned for more info and updates!
Good science = good for the Steemit community
There are great scientists and amazing initiatives like @SteemSTEM here. Scientists have a duty to share their work in a way that is publicly engaging, and Steemit makes this mutually beneficial. If a scientist posts something valuable to the community, they benefit too! In a country like mine where research funding is getting billion dollar cuts, scientists may start looking to fund research in different ways.
An experiment: can Steemit benefit science?
I'm not sure, let's treat it like an experiment! The recent success of Steem Park is a powerful example of what this platform can do and points to a future where projects can be funded by upvotes!
I received funding to create the database I'm working on, but not to develop it futher. I'd love to keep working on it, and I'm eager explore new ways to make science possible. To test the potential of Steemit to support science, I will be posting regularly about my work and other science topics, and all payout will fund research.
Welcome - somebody who knows real science is always good for steemit!
What do oyu think of this problem: https://steemit.com/health/@theaustrianguy/irrationality-the-hidden-danger? Greets :)
This post received a 3.2% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @theaustrianguy! For more information, click here!
I hope your a MAD scientist! Welcome!
Thank you @havok777! Mack scientist... mad scientist... same thing!
Welcome to steemit :D
Welcome to Steemit! I wish you a good day and inspiration to create in our community! Please follow me :)
Welcome to the Steemit community, @Somethingburger ! Wish you much luck! Cheers! Follow me !
Welcome to Steem @somethingburger I have upvoted and sent you a tip
Welcome @somethingburger brother! You are folding in a fantastic perspective that the Steemit community will sincerely benefit from. Looking forward to learning more about your experience with neuroscience and future with metascience :D
Thank you @voronoi! Excited to be sharing, keep up the great work you've been doing here!
welcome on board, hope to learn amazing things from you.
Yeah I hate that they keep reducing the amount of science kids receive in school. Have you ever taught young kids about neuroscience? Oh and welcome to Steemit, I look forward to your posts!
What programming language are you using to download/scan/analyze the statistical articles?
R and the bash shell! Also calling various APIs, like CrossRef.
Great intro!!!
Out of curiosity, what's the significance of your userid?
Thanks, glad you asked! It's a play on the phrase "nothing burger" which is used to describe misleading things that appear to important, but are not. So I guess the opposite, a "something burger" would be as important as it seems, which hopefully will be the case with my posts!
Ha, very clever.
Welcome onboard Mack!
Welcome to Steemit! Your areas of study are really fascinating, and I'm looking forward to seeing your contributions to Steemit (and society!) in my feed :)
Glad it's interesting to people! Many thanks @mtgmisfit!
Hi @somethingburger! You have just received a 0.1 SBD tipfrom @pibyk. Noice!
Check out the latest post from @pibyk: Hardfork? Nihil Novi :-)
@tipU - super easy steemit tips and sharing profit. Click here if you wish to learn more.
By upvoting this comment you support the service - thanks!
Welcome! Awesome post @somethingburger. The world needs more metascience as more people are becoming antiscience, the scientific method needs reinforcement. I think steemit can help with peer reviews and improving the scientific method beyond the academic world.
Nice first post, @somethingburger. Where'd you get the microscope image? Diggit.
Random thought: what's the cultural evolution of the microscope that lead it to became the universal symbol for science? I've never actually used one for research, have you?
Found a royalty-free image that didn't require attribution, and then modified it for the microscope-microscope effect. I've never used one either, except in introductory classes!
Hi Mack! I look forward to reading your posts. As I'm the CEO of a mental health tech company, our interests definitely overlap a bit!
Great post.
Welcome to steemit :-) tip!
I would like to wish you a warm welcome to the Steemit Community. We look forward to your posts and interacting as we build this community together. I upvoted you.
Welcome to steemit. Thanks for your research I'm all for good scientific work being done.
I think your on the right track seeing if your can get funding from a place like steemit. Far too often I see big governments only wanting to fund research if it comes out in a way they want it, not what science determines.
A good example Ecigs. Proven by science to be 99% MUCH SAFER than cigarettes, yet it took a grass roots effort of people like me to finally get big governments to admit to the truth. All government studies wanted to make vaping or ecigs just as bad as traditional smoking... Which was 180 spin to good privately funded research. Governments I believe don't care about public health, rather what is good for big business.
Again thanks for you work, look forward to your future posts and welcome to steemit!
Welcome to Steemit! From me apvote. If you have questions - ask me @cranium
Keep them coming! You are a new member so I'm sending you my support. This deserves an upvote and see you in your next post!
I know how hard it is as a fresh account so maybe you want to try Steemfollower where you can earn up to 5x more steem than just upvoting by yourself! It's a simple and safe vote exchange that is free to use. I also recently made this post explaining that in more depth and it has become my most upvoted post yet.
I'm a science enthusiast but I've actually never heard of metascience. Great post! Resteemed.
Looking forward to your posts!
welcome to Steemit. I do hope that you have a wonderful time on this platform,
followed you .. please follow upvote and comment ... take a look on my acrylic painting that i shared on steemit here : https://steemit.com/art/@arkaprava/just-completed-my-acrylic-painting
have a nice day.
Welcome fellow noob... Followed as I am really interested in neuroscience from the physical and psychological therapy perspective. Ready to learn!
Cool! Following you. I've just had my brain scanned (MRI) and it has been interesting. Looking forward to more info.
Neuroscience junkie here, so I was very excited when I read your first paragraph. Also, this is the first time I hear about metascience. I checked it on Wikipedia, but that gave me limited information. Does it overlap much with the philosophy of science of people like Popper and Kuhn? I'd be curious to read an article about that.
Welcome @somethingburger aboard the steemit express. This is a great platform to express yourself just like any other social media outlet except this one pays its users for interacting with each other. Post good content and your rewards can be limitless but always stay true to yourself.
Checkout this post and give me some feedback on it
https://steemit.com/introduction/@slickhustler007/circle-of-friends-day-3-201784t7572206z
@slickhustler007
#minnowtowhale
#minnowsupport
Grate post! I will follow you...Im also in to neuroscience and its amaze me, not a scienties, I have more been working grond floor, reading and watching behavioral studies and psychology. Recently came in to neuroscience and in my reascher its a grate complimnet to my knowledgse and getting more clearity on our behavioral and the funtion of making new connection and recover old patterns.
A new Steemian :-) hello @somethingburger I hope you enjoy your time here, its a great community ! Nice post, wish you much luck! I Have upvoted and will follow your account. Don't hesitate to contact or follow me at any time :-) See you around @tradewonk
Welcome to Matrix somethingburger.