Could this be the most remarkable withdrawal notice ever issued by the journal?

Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.

Retract action

On February 25th, one of the most epic withdrawal notices was the joy of reading feedback. The notice of withdrawal is when it determines that a research published by a scientific journal is highly flawed and unreliable and is effectively published.

New withdrawal notice I covered five articles, not one, not two Perceptual and motor skillsby all Nicholas Gagen in Southern University of Brittany, France.

Five studies were published between 2002 and 2009. In 2007, Guéguen was the only author of “Bust size and hitchhiking: Field study” The aim is to use real experiments to show that women with big breasts are more likely to be picked up when hitchhiking. Two years later, this time with a colleague, he found it. There was a high chance that the blonde would ride it too..

With such a result, it is no wonder that Guéguen’s work has become a popular theme in news articles. Sadly, this includes New Scientist Covered in 2008 study Women (which has not yet been withdrawn) claim to be more embracing the chat upline at their peak monthly fertility.

It took almost ten years for the card house to start to shake. In 2017, researcher Nick Brown (People who write blogs as “Steamtraen”) and James Heathers I’ve started writing about Guéguen’s work. They found He was prolific and often “published more than ten prominent empirical articles a year, many of which include extensive fieldwork.” Immediately raise a question: How did he find time? They also began to doubt the great effects that are alleged.

And the card house began to crumble. 2019, International review of social psychology Added “Expression of concern” In six of Guéguen’s papers. 2022, Journal of Social Psychology Retract “” in a study that claims that men perceive women as having strong sexual intent when they wear red.Table 1 of the manuscript included four combinations of impossible mean and standard deviation considering the reported sample sizes” That same year, Scandinavian Journal of Psychology A study claiming that men are more likely to help women slaps the study expressing concern.When her hair naturally falls on her neck, shoulders and back“.

And come now Latest withdrawal. The notifications explaining them are amazing, although I take them in academic language. They warn that “low confidence that the research design was implemented as described” and that “many of the data in these articles was incredible or misanalyzed.” In other words, we didn’t think he did what he said, and in any case, he made it wrong.

The editor says Guéguen did not respond to the query. Frankly, given the nature of his work, feedback suspects that he had only one reply: “Stigma! Stigma! They all got it for me!”

It seems right to have Heathers have their final words.Unreliable, embarrassing, if you’re writing a study on Benny Hill, remember that someone will know how bad you made it…and you Also, it might be pretty ok for around seven years before you get more broad results. “

Botticelli xxx Peacock

A few weeks ago, Feedback wrote about the troublesome Scunthorpe issue: The difficulty of blocking offensive words online is often seen in completely harmless words such as the names of British towns. Three readers were able to share with us about similar experiences without falling into our email filter.

Richard Black was in the early 2000s when he asked students to help set up a Hotmail email account. (Note for younger readers: Hotmail is the old name of Outlook. It is the email system that parents use at work as Microsoft is nervous in the business software market.) Richard writes: (Note to younger readers: Yahoo… ah, in fact Yahoo is still around.) Anyway, the student’s last name was Peacock.

At about the same time, Richard Hind was “given the budget to implement an email filtering solution.” It worked pretty well, except for “some curious slang terms for ours that were deemed uncomfortable.” However, many “innocent emails” have also been suspended. The only pattern was being sent by staff to friends elsewhere. “I finally clicked,” says Richard. All blocked emails were signed with three kisses or XS.

I also give my thoughts for Patricia Finney. Blog I explained about optimism in the face of climate change in Botticelli’s reenactment The birth of Venus. Facebook refused Nude and nipples” I’m still waiting for an apology,” she says.

Sweet snack

Feedback reading mountains Thunderbird Episode, so we are reluctant to add to it. But a A series of books caught our eye by food historians. The dark history of sugar It’s about colonial adventures that support the sugar industry, not colonial adventures. With a light note, Pudding Philosophy Sounds fun and we were impressed by the title Kneading to know: The history of baking. Author of all these fever-related books? Neil Butterly.

Have you talked about feedback?

You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Is a Huge Technology Boom on the Horizon or Will it Fizzle Out? Experts Notice Positive Signs Despite Recent Layoffs in the Technology Sector

WWill 2024 be boom or bust for big tech companies?
estimate
the industry has seen more than 7,500 layoffs since the start of the year, a spate of pink slips that many had hoped would stop after deep job cuts in 2023.

But as earnings season for major U.S. tech companies begins this week, some analysts are predicting strong numbers. This set of quarterly financial results may indicate that the industry has shed pandemic-era hiring overhangs and reorganized around cloud computing and AI, with cuts in sectors where the outlook is less positive. It has become necessary. Analysts passionate about AI say we are at the beginning of a tech bull market.



Since the beginning of this year, Google has laid off more than 1,000 employees in various departments. The job cuts are small compared to January last year, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned that more layoffs are coming. He told employees in an internal memo last week that Alphabet was “removing layers to simplify execution and increase speed in some areas.”

“We have ambitious goals and will invest in big priorities this year,” Pichai said in the memo.
Obtained from Verge.
“The reality is that we have to make difficult choices to create the capacity for this investment.” However, the reductions “are not the size of last year's cuts and will not impact every team.” he added.

Alphabet workers union
called dismissal “needless” in Wednesday's post on X (formerly Twitter).

Amazon also announced new layoffs affecting hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions. This is part of a move away from excessive spending on entertainment and a refocus on core priorities such as online shopping logistics and new businesses such as AI.

At Meta, where more than 20,000 layoffs were made last year, departmental cuts appear to have slowed, but have not stopped. Instagram eliminated its management layer in mid-January, cutting 60 technical program managers. Last year, the company announced it was adding employees to support “priority areas” and changing its workforce to include more “high-cost technical roles.”

And that may be the true story of the technology industry in 2024. If Wedbush analyst Dan Ives is right, the layoffs are almost complete and earnings season will be a time for a “popcorn break.”

“Not only will there be companies that will benefit from the AI ​​revolution, but there will also be companies that will be at a disadvantage.Therefore, companies will need to reduce costs in non-revenue-generating areas and redouble their use of AI.” says.

“This is more of a redistribution than anything else because 95% of the cost savings are in the rearview mirror. But the strong will get stronger and the weak will be exposed.”

Skip past newsletter promotions

But which hand is it? Apple may be looking to boost sales that have been lagging behind this month's launch of the Vision Pro headset and new iPhone models with generative AI capabilities. China's economic downturn has forced the company to cut the prices of many smartphones and hope for a recovery.

Last week, Bank of America securities analyst Wamsi Mohan expressed optimism about Apple's year ahead, suggesting that “promising AI capabilities” could lead to “an enhanced multi-year iPhone upgrade cycle.” did.

Ives said increased demand for enterprise software and cybersecurity, as well as a surge in demand related to major AI projects, will be key to earnings season and will continue to do so as the AI ​​revolution gains momentum.

Winners have already emerged. Last week, Microsoft surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company for the first time since 2021, with a market capitalization of nearly $3 trillion. Microsoft cut 16,000 jobs from 232,000 employees last year, but Wedbush recently said that Microsoft's lead in AI will boost the company's revenue by $25 billion by 2025. I calculated that it was possible.

“The move to cloud and AI is having a huge impact on technology, including the reallocation of jobs and many changes to Apple and Google,” Ives said. “AI monetization has begun with his Nvidia and Microsoft, and we believe we are seeing the beginning of a new tech bull market starting in the summer of 2023.”

Source: www.theguardian.com