Kamalita
@kamapi13.bsky.social
Just trying to understand the world and be a decent teacher and epidemiologist.
Interested in epidemiologic methods, nutrition, cardiometabolic health, microbiome, research integrity, teaching and learning. But mostly academic rant, really!
Interested in epidemiologic methods, nutrition, cardiometabolic health, microbiome, research integrity, teaching and learning. But mostly academic rant, really!
Really like this one! xkcd.com/1053/
Ten Thousand
xkcd.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Really like this one! xkcd.com/1053/
Reposted by Kamalita
![Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihcxd5wcrrf5nxz3g4riglsrccbucmdns6kxrtmtj6gjgwqibp3fi@jpeg)
February 9, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Kamalita
Wow this scoring chaos seems to be an extreme case of what I say about many ad hoc analyses: no derivation of method from a clear scientific theory, no assessment of statistical properties, and decades pass before someone notices. This happens in biology too, so let’s not pick on psychology only
Read my latest post for reflections on reproducibility, research quality and a summary of a great new study which shows how NOT to do it
https://open.substack.com/pub/tomstafford/p/gambling-with-research-quality
https://open.substack.com/pub/tomstafford/p/gambling-with-research-quality
Gambling with research quality
How you get 244 different ways to measure performance on the same test of decision making. And what it means for the reliability of behavioural science
tomstafford.substack.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Wow this scoring chaos seems to be an extreme case of what I say about many ad hoc analyses: no derivation of method from a clear scientific theory, no assessment of statistical properties, and decades pass before someone notices. This happens in biology too, so let’s not pick on psychology only
I've learned that when a study is published even in those fancy journals, it does not mean that it is good, but just published. But still whenever a probably confounded study published in some fancy journals and publishing in those journals is how you are valued as an academic, I despair.
February 3, 2026 at 10:16 AM
I've learned that when a study is published even in those fancy journals, it does not mean that it is good, but just published. But still whenever a probably confounded study published in some fancy journals and publishing in those journals is how you are valued as an academic, I despair.
I like this viewpoint. Also if you would like to help people to change behavior it's not helpful when you shame people whenever they aren't eating whatever you think is healthy. theconversation.com/all-foods-ca...
All foods can fit in a balanced diet – a dietitian explains how flexibility can be healthier than dieting
Social media and advertising is full of messages about what you should or shouldn’t eat. But making health and nutrition so black and white can do more harm than good.
theconversation.com
February 1, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I like this viewpoint. Also if you would like to help people to change behavior it's not helpful when you shame people whenever they aren't eating whatever you think is healthy. theconversation.com/all-foods-ca...
Reposted by Kamalita
It's worth sticking around, I think.
December 16, 2025 at 11:45 PM
It's worth sticking around, I think.
Reposted by Kamalita
The ‘shades of grey’ in research integrity—Researchers admit to questionable research practices that they do not perceive to be serious
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
The ‘shades of grey’ in research integrity—Researchers admit to questionable research practices that they do not perceive to be serious
Research misconduct practices like fabrication, falsification and plagiarism (FFP) are serious deviations from good research conduct, which have attracted attention in the literature due to the damage...
journals.plos.org
January 25, 2026 at 10:56 PM
The ‘shades of grey’ in research integrity—Researchers admit to questionable research practices that they do not perceive to be serious
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Sure the way criticism is delivered matters, but I hope we sometimes are also able to trust that our colleagues or partners can take some criticism.
January 26, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Sure the way criticism is delivered matters, but I hope we sometimes are also able to trust that our colleagues or partners can take some criticism.
Reposted by Kamalita
I thought this was really insightful: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
After I burned out, physics helped me understand what had happened to me – and to move on | Zahaan Bharmal
I thought hard work equalled success. I had to realise that’s not always how it works, in science or in life, says Google employee Zahaan Bharmal
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I thought this was really insightful: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Kamalita
“No, we’ve all accepted that the goal is to publish anything and everything and see what sticks. More students. More “collaborations”. So many papers that no human can possibly be paying very much attention to any of it. And we all know where the incentives lie.”
December 7, 2025 at 7:12 AM
“No, we’ve all accepted that the goal is to publish anything and everything and see what sticks. More students. More “collaborations”. So many papers that no human can possibly be paying very much attention to any of it. And we all know where the incentives lie.”
😟
Good points all. I would add that we should hardly be surprised people are turning to LLMs to do their research for them when there is not enough time to get stuck into important problems and you see your colleagues somehow publishing 3 papers for every 1 you do.
December 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
😟
I don't understand why some people present their research in a way that doesn't help their audience to understand what they did and what their results really mean.
December 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM
I don't understand why some people present their research in a way that doesn't help their audience to understand what they did and what their results really mean.
Reposted by Kamalita
Europe must reform the ways in which science is evaluated. To boost innovation, it must improve research culture, says David Budtz Pedersen
go.nature.com/3Y0652P
go.nature.com/3Y0652P
Great science happens in great teams — research assessments must try to capture that
Europe must reform the ways in which science is evaluated. To boost innovation, it must improve research culture.
go.nature.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Europe must reform the ways in which science is evaluated. To boost innovation, it must improve research culture, says David Budtz Pedersen
go.nature.com/3Y0652P
go.nature.com/3Y0652P
Reposted by Kamalita
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Oops. Ooooooooooooops.
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
I do hope that nobody has been given or denied a job/promotion based on their SpringerNature citation counts in the past 15 years.
arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01675
h/t @nathlarigaldie.bsky.social
Totally agree and I hope to do my share as well www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...
Why Science Needs to Prioritize Mentoring
Progress is usually incremental and depends on innumerable contributors, our guest columnist writes. So we ought to focus on developing them.
www.chronicle.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Totally agree and I hope to do my share as well www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...
"Are things so different in our time?"
Well...
Well...
Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).
Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment
Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t
www.science.org
November 7, 2025 at 8:53 PM
"Are things so different in our time?"
Well...
Well...
Reposted by Kamalita
Stop being a lame-o and replace dplyr with the more slappin genzplyr.
November 7, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Stop being a lame-o and replace dplyr with the more slappin genzplyr.
Reposted by Kamalita
I am slow to react to this recent Stockholm Declaration on scientific publishing. A lot of it sounds good, but I don't see how we get from here to there. I worry nothing substantial will happen until the cost disease kills the host.
![3. Incentive systems to merit quality, not quantity
Reward scientific achievement based primarily on quality—not quantity measures of today’s ‘reputation economy’ metric system [8].
Discourage ‘salami-slicing’ of results to obtain ‘least publishable units’; reduce the abundance of review articles (meta-analyses) and commentaries that over-burden reviewers and can too easily be generated using AI.
Rankings of academic achievement with metrics such as citation counts, ‘journal impact factor’ (JIF) and ‘publication number’ must be used responsibly because they often do not correlate with research quality [9] (see also CoARA—Reforming Research Assessment). 7](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ta2whs6wjtpljvpqgs5leu36/bafkreieiasfhsrhanmpgthgdkcub5gsezdu5yy6ekaiv633gvvzygdwmxe@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 9:33 AM
I am slow to react to this recent Stockholm Declaration on scientific publishing. A lot of it sounds good, but I don't see how we get from here to there. I worry nothing substantial will happen until the cost disease kills the host.
Reposted by Kamalita
This. Also: We’ve no idea how much groundbreaking research we might actually be missing out on when core research doesn’t have the opportunity to gradually unfold, take place without being tailored to surface claims about high impact and fantastic deliverables.
We need more "unfunded" research, not less. Or rather, we need more "core" funding and much less project based funding. Then universities can *invest* in core research infrastructure (including people), reduce precarity, and focus on growing and retaining talent.
November 5, 2025 at 6:45 AM
This. Also: We’ve no idea how much groundbreaking research we might actually be missing out on when core research doesn’t have the opportunity to gradually unfold, take place without being tailored to surface claims about high impact and fantastic deliverables.
Really enjoyed the Epidemiology Counts podcast episode on consequential epidemiology with Sandro Galea!
October 28, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Really enjoyed the Epidemiology Counts podcast episode on consequential epidemiology with Sandro Galea!
Reposted by Kamalita
I've never experienced anything like this in my life, where people keep telling me that "we have to use AI or else we'll be left behind" but they don't actually tell me exactly what problem they are hoping to solve with the "AI" or how we would know it was useful. But we must use it! Apparently.
March 19, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I've never experienced anything like this in my life, where people keep telling me that "we have to use AI or else we'll be left behind" but they don't actually tell me exactly what problem they are hoping to solve with the "AI" or how we would know it was useful. But we must use it! Apparently.
😍https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/24/magazine/sulawesi-indonesia-earth-secrets-biodiversity.html
Sulawesi Is the Island That Keeps Earth’s Most Ancient Secrets Alive
Sulawesi, Indonesia, blurs the boundaries between myth and ecology. What might it reveal about our past – or destiny?
www.nytimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:09 AM
😍https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/24/magazine/sulawesi-indonesia-earth-secrets-biodiversity.html
Reposted by Kamalita
Today I have mostly been reading this great paper by Andy Stirling www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Today I have mostly been reading this great paper by Andy Stirling www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...