Since the nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for NIH Director, I’ve been seeing a suggestion from certain contrarian doctors for a “randomized trial” of study sections vs. a “modified lottery” to determine which grant applications are funded by the NIH. Why do RFK Jr. apologists think this is a good idea?
Earlier this month, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a plan to decrease the problem of reputational bias in grant funding. I couldn’t help but contrast how hard the NIH tries to use the most rigorous scientific criteria to decide whose grants to fund with the conspiracy theory that Anthony Fauci personally doles out NIH dollars like a mob boss to scientists who support him.
Regular readers will have noted that Orac has not posted anything new in nearly a week. There’s an explanation, and it’s a grant deadline. Orac will return.
For the last few days, real life concerns over keeping his lab funded have shockingly interfered with Orac’s blogging. Being the benevolent blogmaster that he is, Orac has decided to open the floodgates with an open thread. Create your own Insolence. And, hey, let’s be careful out there. And don’t push each other’s buttons (too much).
Kevin Folta was subject to an abusive FOIA request for his emails by US Right To Know, an anti-GMO group seeking to harass him for his advocacy for GMOs. Paul Thacker, a journalist, used those emails without pointing out the true nature of the source of the FOIA request, and has argued for an expansive view of FOIA that is basically a license for groups like USTRK to harass scientists.
