VOA慢速英语--研究无法证实许多癌症实验的实验室结果

Study Cannot Confirm Many Lab Results for Cancer Experiments

Eight years ago, a team of researchers launched a project to carefully repeat early and influential¹ lab experiments in cancer research. The Reproducibility Project as it is called recreated 50 experiments. Now, it reports that about half of the experiments did not produce the results reported originally.

The reproducibility of experiments and confirmation² of results is central to wide acceptance of scientific claims.

"The truth is we fool ourselves. Most of what we claim is novel or significant is no such thing," said Dr. Vinay Prasad. He is a cancer doctor and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco and was not involved in the project.

Most scientists believe that the strongest findings come from experiments that can be repeated with similar results.

But there is little reason for researchers to share methods and data so others can confirm the work, said Marcia McNutt. She is president of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers lose respect in the scientific community if their results do not hold up to careful study, she added.

For the project, the researchers tried to repeat experiments from cancer biology papers. The papers had appeared in major scientific publications, including Nature and Cell, from 2010 to 2012.

Overall, 54 percent of the original findings failed to meet conditions set by the Reproducibility Project. The team's study appears in the journal eLife. The nonprofit eLife receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports The Associated Press Health and Science Department.

Among the studies that did not hold up was one that claimed a link between a stomach bacteria and colon³ cancer. Another claimed a drug had shrunk tumors in mice. And, a third was a mouse study of a possible prostate cancer drug.

This is the second major study by the Reproducibility Project. In 2015, they found similar problems when they tried to repeat experiments in psychology⁵.

Study co-writer Brian Nosek of the Center for Open Science said it can be wasteful⁶ to move forward without first doing the work to repeat findings.

The researchers tried to limit differences in how the cancer experiments were carried out. Often, they could not get help from the scientists who did the original work. They could not get answers to questions such as which kinds of mice to use or where to find specially⁷ engineered tumor⁴ cells.

Michael Lauer is a deputy director of research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He said, "I wasn't surprised, but it is concerning that about a third of scientists were not helpful, and, in some cases, were beyond not helpful."

Lauer added that the NIH plans to require data-sharing among organizations to which it provides support in 2023.

Dr. Glenn Begley is a bio-technology advisor⁸ and former head of cancer research at drugmaker Amgen. Ten years ago, he and other scientists at Amgen reported even lower rates of confirmation when they tried to repeat published cancer experiments.

Cancer research is difficult, Begley said. He added that "it is very easy for researchers to be attracted to results that look exciting and provocative⁹, results that appear to further support their favorite idea as to how cancer should work, but that are just wrong."

Words in This Story

originally – adv. in the beginning; when something first happened or began

novel – adj. new and different from what is already known

significant – adj. large enough to be noticed or have an effect

journal – n. a magazine that reports on things of special interest to a particular group of people

provocative – adj. causing discussion, thought, argument, etc.

1 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

2 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

3 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

4 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

7 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

8 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

9 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。