Author Archives: Bob O'H

As I have some time free…

Posted on 18 October 2023 by Bob O'H

I was recently encouraged by a certain gentleman of this parish to return to blogging. Great, I thought, but when will I get the time? But over the weekend I was struck down by Lurgy-19, and as this is a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Why p-values should be interpreted as more than p-values

Posted on 22 November 2021 by Bob O'H

Last week some of us published a paper trying to improve the way p-values are interpreted by suggesting this be done on a more continuous scale (here’s another link to the paper: hopefully one will go to a readable version). … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Psychology Journal Bans Almost All of Statistics

Posted on 3 March 2015 by Bob O'H

Amongst the big news last week (besides the octopus-squid battle, a dress, and a singer falling over whilst – presumably – sober) was the release of an editorial from the journal “Basic and Applied Social Psychology” (BASP) which announced that … Continue reading →

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The Breakthrough Prize Doesn’t

Posted on 11 November 2014 by Bob O'H

Yesterday the recipients of next year’s Breakthrough Prize were announced. We’re told that these are meant to “elevate scientists to rock-star status” and to “inspire the next generation of scientists”. If that’s the aim, then they are going to be … Continue reading →

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Ghost un-authorships

Posted on 7 November 2014 by Bob O'H

I’m currently reading Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma, in which he documents all the naughty things done by the Pharma industry. One of the many infelicities he mentions is their habit of ghostwriting academic papers, and then asking an academic to … Continue reading →

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Detonation Aftermath

Posted on 4 February 2014 by Bob O'H

Sunday was a Big Day in Frankfurt. Next to the building where I work there is – or rather was – an ugly tower block, the AfE tower. We only move into our building last summer, and the whole time … Continue reading →

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This week, in Frankfurt

Posted on 20 January 2014 by Bob O'H

This morning the latest blog post on the Grauniad’s science pages was the annual complaint about crap news stories about ‘Blue Monday’. I’ve no idea if these stories have reached Germany (and there doesn’t seem to be anything about it … Continue reading →

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Come and work with me in Frankfurt!

Posted on 8 January 2014 by Bob O'H

We’ve got an EXCITING(!) EXHILARATING(!!) ENTERTAINING(!!!) EXASPERATING(!

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The most pathetic journal spam yet

Posted on 4 December 2013 by Bob O'H

After the Bohannon fun, we’re all more aware of predatory publishers trying to get our money to publish any old crap. You would have thought they would have been aware of his, and at least made an attempt to look … Continue reading →

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How old is your method?

Posted on 25 October 2013 by Bob O'H

Over on the Methods in Ecology & Evolution blog, Sam (our Assistant Editor) has just put up a podcast she edited from interviews made by Barb Anderson at Intecol this year. She wandered the meeting with a sonic screwdriver asking … Continue reading →

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Attack Budgies: leaks from the secret labs of GrrlScientist

Posted on 11 October 2013 by Bob O'H

This morning I was gravely offended by being described as an “attack parrot”. The offender’s mitigation was that he had originally wanted to call me an “attack budgie”, but had refrained, presumably because he thought an attack budgie sounded less … Continue reading →

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Simple models can lead to generality in ecology

Posted on 6 September 2013 by Bob O'H

It’s always nice to read a paper that is obviously wrong, but where you have to think about why it is wrong. Because it makes you, well, think. And sometimes learn something new. So when I see a paper in … Continue reading →

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Simple models do lead to generality in ecology

Posted on 4 September 2013 by Bob O'H

It’s always nice to read a paper that is obviously wrong, but where you have to think about why it is wrong. Because it makes you, well, think. And sometimes learn something new.

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Off to the other side of the world

Posted on 8 April 2013 by Bob O'H

This is just a brief announcement to explain that as this publishes I should be off on my travels again. This time I’m going further than ever before (no, I’m not travelling by standing on the shoulders of giants). I’m … Continue reading →

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On the Evolution of Camouflage in Urban Environments

Posted on 25 March 2013 by Bob O'H

One of my offices is in the Geozentrum in the Goethe University here in Frankfurt. This morning this was on the side of the building: I only saw it because it was flapping about a bit in the wind. If … Continue reading →

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