the error bar

fact-checking brain science news and asking brain scientists about mistakes and controversies

Open Science and Its Enemies, Part III: The progressives

OPEN SCIENCE & ITS ENEMIES, PART III: The Progressives in this episode i conclude my critique of - some parts of - the open science movement by focusing on the positive reforms that might actually work. keywords: open science reform critique commentary. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=41] https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FZ84B

10-01
51:32

Open Science and its Enemies. Part II: The populists

in this episode i continue discussing some problems in the open science movement. i focus on populist podcasters and the promotion of simplistic heuristics that some scientists argue will improve science. i argue that none of the heuristics will make much difference on their own, & often miss their target. i say 'fucking' about five times. the audio, especially the first 20 minutes, is a bit 'noisy', sorry (ironic, eh?). keywords: openscience reform critique commentary. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=40]

07-31
01:04:26

Open Science and its Enemies. Part I: The p-circlers

There's no brain news this month, but i take this unique opportunity to provide the first of my three part critique of - some parts of - the Open Science movement. This episode focusses on p-circling & reverse p-hacking. These two pejorative terms describe situations where scientists who *don't like* a particular reported effect, then decide to search for things in the paper which can 'un-explain' it. The reverse p-hacker turns a significant effect into a non-significant, or un-interesting one. These reverse p-hackers selectively adjust their version of data analysis (or interpretation) to *remove* significant p-values. it's the same thing as p-hacking. but backwards. & equally wrong.

05-20
26:50

JUST DIE ALREADY

in this episode we find out how motivational talk makes you run faster & i ponder on the history of science & the death of ideas long, long after their time. keywords: progress idea Kuhn death revolution. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=38]. image credit: Kaan Durmuş, https://www.pexels.com/photo/military-jet-flying-against-morning-sky-leaving-smoke-trail-19191704/, image re-sized to fit

04-05
15:14

YOUR SAMPLE IS SMALL

my name's nick holmes and THIS is the error bar: a podcast about brain science & statistics that's nothing like any other podcast about brain science & statistics. this month's episode reveals the final truth about why men's and women's brains are so very similar or different, and I alog (it's like a blog, but its auditory) about why the problem of sample size in a research study is never really actually a problem at all. at least on its own. it's contextual. right?

03-11
14:19

DON'T LOOK BACK

my name's nick holmes and THIS is the error bar, where no drinks are served, which has only one song on the jukebox & one programme on the telly: the news. this episode covers mortality rates associated with obsessive compulsive disorder and two newspaper stories about love - just in time for valentine's day. i also waffle on about the pros and cons of looking back over 'the literature' - should we study the literature in the library, or study nature in the lab? keywords: history research meta analysis review. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=36]. image credit: Sergey Yeliseev, https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3300/3300705817_81944d9608.jpg, image re-sized to fit

02-09
16:20

SEASON THREE PREVIEW

my name's nick holmes and THIS is the error bar, a podcast by a middle age man who likes statistics, FOR middle aged men who like statistics. keywords: podcast return season three brains stats. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=35]

12-01
06:26

BIAS, FATIGUE, FRAUD? TAKE A HIKE

how learning to play the piano improves perception, why the brain needs a break, image manipulation & the wonder of winter walking. keywords: bias perception break stress fraud walk. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=34]. image credit: Wallpapers Box, http://wallsbox.blogspot.com/2009/12/winter-wonderland-hd-desktop-wallpapers.html, image re-sized to fit

12-11
13:23

EYES WIDE SHUT

how different people see the world of colour differently, the study of love that triggered a studied hate & the annual review of the error bar's existence.. keywords: colour love hate difference ReasonsToBe. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=33]. image credit: Gabriel Meono, https://www.deviantart.com/gabrielmeono/art/Free-Eye-close-up-wallpaper-261096307, image re-sized to fit

11-07
08:51

EMOTIONAL FISH FOOD

how the largest part of the brain gets emotional, why older adults don't get emotion, how goldfish can swim 70cm for food & FREE ENERGY forever! keywords: cerebellum emotion goldfish food pong. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=32] image credit: wisc-online.com, https://www.wisc-online.com/assetrepository/viewasset?id=31, image re-sized to fit

10-21
09:40

THE SHAVING FOAM FIRE HOSE OF BRAIN NEWS

how the mouse eye tells the mouse brain that a mouse is scratching itself, how dogs are everywhere & the two scientific cultures of simplifiers & complificators. keywords: mouse itch dogs Occam parsimony SCN. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=31]. image: https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.b57ASewfj-ezQ7pKV0SDbQHaD-&pid=Api, image re-sized to fit

10-10
11:45

CLIMBING MOUNT THETA

how to massively improve your memory in old age after just a few hours, why scientists won't change their mind, & how the brain is not made of light bulbs... keywords: memory stimulation electromagnetic light. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=30]

09-23
12:21

HOLDING PATTERN

bringing you the brain science news before it happens. or sometimes a long, long time afterwards. & sometimes it's not really news at all. more opinion really... keywords: job news revamp advert. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=29]. image credit: www.americanflyers.net, https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/14111/what-are-the-meanings-of-these-terms-related-to-instrument-flight, image re-sized to fit

09-09
07:04

BIG, WRONG AND BORING

the biggest brain scanning study ever, how the error bar was wrong, how magnetically stimulating the head is distracting & some vaguely-interesting news stories. keywords: big data brain scan correction language. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=28]

05-23
09:51

IS IT BIG ENOUGH?

how the visual brain controls blind people's feet, & how every single brain scanning study ever done needed thousands more participants to be reliable. keywords: movement blind scanning size matters. contains some swearing. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=27]

03-26
10:18

FINDING THE CLITORIS

how to find the clitoris, how COVID shrinks some very important parts of the brain & the Canadian brain disease that isn't. still. keywords: clitoris mapping COVID brain shrink. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=26]. image adapted from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clitoris_3D_(v2).jpg

03-13
08:03

FLATTENING THE CURVE

how your brain is just as good at age 60 as age 30, the neural correlates of near death experience & the most interesting questions in the whole of science. keywords: mental speed reaction time. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=25]. image credit: Dr. Marco Cardinale, http://lh5.ggpht.com/_hbZ_aIisSu8/SSLwsD9eR6I/AAAAAAAAARM/NDFPb262YUk/w1200-h630-p-nu/Squat%20Jump%20Bosco_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg, image edited & re-sized

02-25
08:26

THE FACETIME ILLUSION

how your brain lives in the past, the virus causing multiple sclerosis, consciousness explained three times, the scanner that talks scots & a news dump. keywords: illusion face MS consciousness MRI dump. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=24]

02-11
07:42

2021: A YEAR IN ERROR

how rocket scientists & brain surgeons are just as clever as you, how to publish anything in medical journals, how music affects the brain & 2021 has ended. keywords: rocket brain bogus music year 2021 error. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=23]

01-06
12:21

POO, VOMIT, WIND

how smelling bodily odour stops men from killing & makes women warriors, how alcoholic binges shrink your brain & the wind farms that make you sick. keywords: poo vomit wind baby booze error. details, sources and full transcript at the error bar [https://theerrorbar.com?e=22]. image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Twemoji_1f4a9.svg/352px-Twemoji_1f4a9.svg.png, image re-sized to fit

12-09
10:15

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