(Press-News.org) ANN ARBOR—As new research documents growing inequalities in health and wealth, the gap between "haves" and "have-nots" is growing in the field of scientific research itself, says University of Michigan sociologist Yu Xie.
"It's surprising that more attention has not been paid to the large, changing inequalities in the world of scientific research, given the preoccupation with rising social and economic inequality in many countries," said Xie, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research and professor of sociology, statistics and public policy.
The forces of globalization and internet technology have altered the intensities and mechanisms of the basic structure of inequalities in science, he points out.
In fact, Xie says, scientific outputs and rewards are much more unequally distributed than other outcomes of well-being such as education, earnings or health.
The rich get richer, he says, with eminent scientists receiving disproportionately greater recognition and rewards than lesser-known scientists for comparable contributions.
"As a result, a talented few can parlay early successes into resources for future successes, accumulating advantages over time," Xie said.
While the academic establishment defends these inequalities in a variety of ways, Xie observes that in the long run, resources and rewards must be allocated so that inequality is properly managed and controlled.
"Although inequality may incentivize scientists to make important scientific discoveries, it is especially important to invest sufficient resources in young scientists before they gain recognition," he said.
INFORMATION:
Xie's study is published in the current issue of Science. In addition to his other appointments at U-M, Xie is affiliated with the U-M Center for Chinese Studies and the Peking University Center for Social Research in Beijing.
Yu Xie: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~yuxie
Growing inequalities make science more of a 'winner takes all' field
2014-05-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Fruit flies show mark of intelligence in thinking before they act
2014-05-22
Fruit flies 'think' before they act, a study by researchers from the University of Oxford's Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour suggests. The neuroscientists showed that fruit flies take longer to make more difficult decisions.
In experiments asking fruit flies to distinguish between ever closer concentrations of an odour, the researchers found that the flies don't act instinctively or impulsively. Instead they appear to accumulate information before committing to a choice.
Gathering information before making a decision has been considered a sign of higher intelligence, ...
Collecting biological specimens essential to science and conservation
2014-05-22
ANN ARBOR—Collecting plant and animal specimens is essential for scientific studies and conservation and does not, as some critics of the practice have suggested, play a significant role in species extinctions.
Those are the conclusions of more than 100 biologists and biodiversity researchers who signed a letter to the journal Science scheduled for online publication May 22.
The letter is a response to an April 18 Perspectives article in Science arguing that alternative methods of documentation—such as high-resolution photography, audio recordings and nonlethal tissue ...
Newborn health improves despite income gap
2014-05-22
The U.S. economic inequality gap has been widening for decades, and research shows that maternal disadvantage may have health consequences for newborns. A review of recent economic research, however, finds that the health of newborns has actually improved nationally in recent years, despite data that would suggest otherwise.
"That was really surprising to us," said Anna Aizer, associate professor of economics at Brown University. Aizer and Janet Currie of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Princeton University published the review in a special issue of Science ...
Ancient DNA ends Aussie claim to kiwi origins
2014-05-22
Australia can no longer lay claim to the origins of the iconic New Zealand kiwi following University of Adelaide research published in the journal Science today showing the kiwi's closest relative is not the emu as was previously thought.
Instead, the diminutive kiwi is most closely related to the extinct Madagascan elephant bird – a 2-3 metre tall, 275 kg giant. And surprisingly, the study concluded, both of these flightless birds once flew.
A new study by the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), has solved a 150-year-old evolutionary ...
Scientists identify potential vaccine candidate for pediatric malaria
2014-05-22
WHAT:
Researchers have identified a substance, or antigen, that generates antibodies that can hinder the ability of malaria parasites to multiply, which may protect against severe malaria infection. The antigen, known as PfSEA-1, was associated with reduced parasite levels among children and adults in malaria-endemic areas. Mice exposed to PfSEA-1 in an investigational vaccine also experienced lower malaria parasite levels. The discovery of PfSEA-1 could be a critical addition to the limited pool of antigens currently used in candidate malaria vaccines. The findings, which ...
Lower mantle chemistry breakthrough
2014-05-22
Washington, D.C.—Breaking research news from a team of scientists led by Carnegie's Ho-kwang "Dave" Mao reveals that the composition of the Earth's lower mantle may be significantly different than previously thought. These results are to be published by Science.
The lower mantle comprises 55 percent of the planet by volume and extends from 670 and 2900 kilometers in depth, as defined by the so-called transition zone (top) and the core-mantle boundary (below). Pressures in the lower mantle start at 237,000 times atmospheric pressure (24 gigapascals) and reach 1.3 million ...
Deep earth recycling of the oceanic floor
2014-05-22
Scientists from the Magma and Volcanoes Laboratory (CNRS/IRD/Université Blaise Pascal) and the European Synchrotron, the ESRF, have recreated the extreme conditions 600 to 2900 km below the Earth's surface to investigate the melting of basalt in the oceanic tectonic plates. They exposed microscopic pieces of rock to these extreme pressures and temperatures while simultaneously studying their structure with the ESRF's extremely powerful X-ray beam. The results show that basalt produced on the ocean floor has a melting temperature lower than the peridotite which forms the ...
Delegating the dirty work is a key to evolution
2014-05-22
EAST LANSING, Mich. — We have hundreds of types of cells in our bodies – everything from red blood cells to hair follicles to neurons. But why can't most of them create offspring for us?
New research at Michigan State University suggests that separating germ cells – sperm and eggs –from somatic cells – all other cells – preserves the genetic building blocks while allowing organisms to flourish in a somewhat hazardous environment.
The results, which appear in the current issue of PLOS Biology, show that having somatic cells do the organism's dirty work helps explain ...
Researchers identify key mechanism in metabolic pathway that fuels cancers
2014-05-22
DALLAS – May 22, 2014 – In a breakthrough discovery at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI), a research team led by Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D., has taken a significant step in cracking the code of an atypical metabolic pathway that allows certain cancerous tumors to thrive, providing a possible roadmap for defeating such cancers.
Published in Cell Reports, and following up on Dr. DeBerardinis' landmark finding in 2011, this most recent discovery identifies the triggering mechanism that plays a key role in causing a series of ...
Signals found that recruit host animals' cells, enabling breast cancer metastasis
2014-05-22
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have identified chemical signals that certain breast cancers use to recruit two types of normal cells needed for the cancers' spread. A description of the findings appears in the online early May edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Blocking one of these cell-recruiting signals in a mouse's tumor made it much less likely to metastasize or spread," says Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a professor and director of the Vascular Biology Program in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's ...