The Very Reproducible (But Illusory) Mesosome

Abstract

Other| May 01 2022 The Very Reproducible (But Illusory) Mesosome Douglas Allchin Douglas Allchin Department Editor DOUGLAS ALLCHIN (allchindouglas@gmail.com) taught both high school and college biology before receiving his PhD in history and philosophy of science. He is a Fellow at the Minnesota Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. His collected essays from this column are available in Sacred Bovines from Oxford University Press. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (2022) 84 (5): 321–323. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2022.84.5.321 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Douglas Allchin; The Very Reproducible (But Illusory) Mesosome. The American Biology Teacher 1 May 2022; 84 (5): 321–323. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2022.84.5.321 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search Science, we hear, is facing a Reproducibility Crisis. Famous psychological experiments have been redone but did not yield the same results. Replications of clinical studies on drugs and cancer therapies have “failed,” too. Ultimately, the fear is that we cannot trust scientific claims. Underlying this skepticism is the concept of reproducibility. Researchers expect, on principle, that if one follows the same procedures and gets the same results, somehow the conclusions are also secure. For example, an editor of Science magazine asserted, “Science advances on a foundation of trusted discoveries. Reproducing an experiment is one important approach that scientists use to gain confidence in their conclusions” (McNutt, 2014). A later editor echoed her sentiment, “The ability to test validity by replicating experiments and comparing results is a cornerstone of science” (Berg, 2019). Elsewhere: “replication—the confirmation of results and conclusions from one study obtained independently in another—is considered... You do not currently have access to this content.