The Internet has already fundamentally changed the way that people communicate, shop, and even date, but now it is poised to revolutionize psychological studies by enabling researchers to quickly and easily recruit thousands of study volunteers from around the world, and by changing the way the public interacts with researchers. By conducting experiments online, researchers have been able to enlist as many as 65,000 volunteers to take part in studies of cognition , a number far larger than they could bring into the lab. Such studies, however, have been dogged by questions about whether anonymous, unpaid volunteers tested online can produce data that is as high quality as that gathered through in-person lab testing. New research conducted by Harvard scientists may put those questions to rest. A team led by Laura Germine, a postdoctoral research associate in Harvard’s Psychology Department, and made up of Ken Nakayama, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology and chair of the Department of Psychology, and Jeremy Wilmer of Wellesley College, has shown that data gathered exclusively through online volunteers can be just as good as that from in-person experiments. Their research is described in a forthcoming issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review . “What this says is that people shouldn’t be afraid of the Web as a way of conducting their research,” said Germine, the paper’s first author. “Despite the cost advantages, despite the time advantages, researchers continue to worry that data from Web volunteers will not be as good as data from paid lab participants. We’ve shown that data from self-selected Web volunteers can be very good. The thing I like to say about using the Web is that it’s fast, it’s cheap, but it’s not dirty. In experiments like ours, what you’re getting is good, reliable data.” To test whether Web studies are as valid as those done in the lab, researchers recruited thousands of volunteers through Germine’s site, TestMyBrain.org . The volunteers, who navigated from search engines and social networking sites, took part in a handful of tests to learn more about themselves and contribute to scientific research. These tests were designed to assess everything from facial recognition ability to a person’s capacity for remembering a long string of numbers. Researchers then compared the results of the online tests with those done in the lab. “We looked at three basic metrics,” Germine explained. “We looked at mean performance, we looked at variation in performance, and we looked at internal consistency. In some ways, I think, the third measure — the consistency, or internal reliability — is the most important, because it allows you to look at how someone’s performance on one part of the test predicts how they will perform on another part of the test. If they stopped paying attention or started watching YouTube videos halfway through a test, that would be reflected in lower reliability.” On each measure, Germine said, the results from studies conducted with Web volunteers were the same as those done in the lab. The only variation researchers found came when they compared the average, or mean, performance of the general public with that of elite college students from Harvard and Wellesley on IQ-based tests. “For tests based on visual recognition and perception that are less related to IQ, average scores were the same for Web and lab,” Germine said. While it has simplified the process of gathering data, the Web has also changed the relationship between researchers and those they study. By forming communities online, Germine said, people who suffer from a particular disorder have been able to raise awareness — and drive research in areas that might otherwise not be studied. “The other benefit that comes from using the Web is that people can offer insights about themselves we might not think to ask,” Germine said. “The best example of this is with the selective developmental disorders.” Arguably the most prominent example of such a disorder is prosopagnosia, also known as “face blindness,” in which individuals have difficulty recognizing people, sometimes even in their own families. Although the condition was occasionally reported following a stroke, when people claimed to have had the disorder from birth, they were often dismissed by doctors and researchers. As tests for facial recognition were made available online, researchers began to realize that the disorder was far more common than previously thought. “As a result, we learned a great deal,” Germine said. “Because we had these tests available online, and because people were able to participate in this exploration online, the knowledge they gained validated their own experience, which encouraged them to get in contact with a researcher. So there was this circle of knowledge that became very beneficial to everyone involved. “I think psychology, as a field, is unique in that the research questions can be made fairly accessible to the public,” she added. “The Web offers us another avenue to take advantage of that, and to engage people in our science in a new way. I think there’s a great opportunity for collaboration between scientists and ‘citizen scientists’ to advance scientific knowledge.”

Biju Parekkadan saw his future in the plight of a newborn thousands of miles away. It was 2008, and Parekkadan, then a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology , was in India on an “observership,” becoming familiar with health issues in the giant Asian nation. Parekkadan had talked with a doctor there of his research, which uses a type of adult stem cell to calm the body’s attacks on its own damaged tissue after injury. The research has potential for treating kidney and liver failure, inflammatory bowel disease, and other ailments. But Parekkadan wasn’t sure whether to continue that work or head to medical school to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a physician. So the doctor took him to the neonatal intensive care unit to show him the potential impact of his research. A baby they examined that day was healthy but had been orphaned when its mother died of liver failure in childbirth. “He asked me, ‘When are we going to get what you’re working on?’ ” Parekkadan recalled. Parekkadan set aside thoughts of medical school and dedicated himself to the lab. He has made considerable progress in just a few years, working to bring therapy based on a type of bone marrow stem cell, called mesenchymal stem cells, closer to use by physicians to treat patients suffering from acute kidney failure. He has developed a product, currently in large animal testing, that he hopes to begin testing in humans as early as next year. “I thought that a singular focus [on research] would be more important,” Parekkadan said. “I came back from India, graduated, and said, ‘It’s time to take this to the next level.’ ” Now an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as well as a staff scientist at nearby Shriners Hospital for Children , Parekkadan is investigating new treatments using cells instead of the molecules found in drugs. His field of cellular therapy, while less common than molecular therapy, has been around for many years in procedures such as bone marrow transplants to treat cancer. Parekkadan, who grew up in New Jersey, said he was in high school in the mid-1990s when he felt the pull of genetic engineering. “I was just amazed. I could not believe you could control a biological thing in this way. I tried to anticipate what the world would look like” in the future, Parekkadan said. While an undergraduate at Rutgers University , Parekkadan became interested in the potential of cell-based therapy — specifically, embryonic stem cells

Mexicans See A Losing Battle In The War On Crooked Police — L.A. Times President Calderon vowed to create a trustworthy federal police force. Now as he apologizes for a police shooting of a U.S. Embassy vehicle, citizens scoff at the very notion. MEXICO CITY — In the midst of a violent drug war, President Felipe Calderon fired crooked cops by the hundreds, and hired new ones — rigorously vetted and college educated — by the thousands. Salaries were doubled, new standards imposed and officers were subjected to extensive background checks. A trustworthy federal police force was to be one of the most important legacies of Calderon’s six-year term. And yet, just months before he is to leave office in December, the president found himself apologizing “profoundly” this week for an incident in which federal police allegedly opened fire on an SUV with diplomatic plates, injuring two Americans. Read more …. My Comment: There is always going to be bad apples in any barrel …. unfortunately for Mexico …. their police force has a long history of corruption and failing in their duties.

Pentagon Threatens Legal Action Over Bin Laden Book — Reuters (Reuters) – The Pentagon warned on Thursday that it was considering legal action against a former U.S. Navy SEAL for material breach of non-disclosure agreements with his first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In a letter obtained by Reuters, and subsequently released by the Pentagon, the Pentagon’s top attorney said the Department of Defense was also considering legal action against anyone “acting in concert” with the author. It hinted that the book’s royalties might be subject to government claims. The letter, addressed to “Mark Owen,” the pseudonym under which the book was written, identified two separate non-disclosure agreements he signed with the Navy that legally committed him to never divulge classified information, which is a crime. Read more …. Update #1: Pentagon to consider legal action against ex-SEAL author of bin Laden raid book — FOX News/AP Update #2: Author of book on bin Laden raid could face legal action — Washington Post My Comment: Matt Bissonnette has destroyed the careful narrative that the Pentagon and White House pushed after the killing of Bin Laden. In short …. he has made a number of people very upset. The fact that he has also probably violated confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements will mean that he will be punished to the full extent of the law …. and (I predict) will become the poster-child of what happens to soldiers who violate non-disclosure agreements with the military. But a question still needs to be asked …. he was behind the point man who shot Bin Laden …. and Matt Bissonnette was the man who finished Bin Laden off by shooting him in the chest …. as well as wiping the blood off Bin Laden’s face and taking the pictures that proved that Bin Laden was dead …. he is in every way a great American hero …. but should he now be treated harshly and condemned for publishing this book as some are doing now ? Sighhhh …. I am glad that I am not in the military chain of command nor the prosecutor who must now make a decision that (I am sure) cannot …. and will not …. satisfy everyone.

Speaking out: Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette appeared on US TV show 60 Minutes this week to discuss his book. CBS said they disguised his appearance for his safety Osama bin Laden’s Dead Body Was Identified By Young Girl Hiding Out With The al-Qaeda Leader When Navy SEALS Raided His Compound — Daily Mail * MailOnline obtains copy of explosive account of bin Laden’s assassination * Author, identified as ex-SEAL Matt Bissonnette, 36, describes the moment he released he’d killed the ‘most wanted man in the world’ * Bin Laden was hiding out with two wives and three children * Girl who identified terrorist leader likely to be one of his 20 plus offspring The dead body of Osama bin Laden was positively identified by a child who was in the room with him when he died, according to a former U.S. Navy SEAL’s account of his assassination. In his explosive book about the operation, titled No Easy Day, 36-year-old Matt Bissonnette – writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen – describes the moment his team discovered the terrorist leader was dead. Read more …. Update: Excerpts from SEAL’s book about Osama bin Laden killing — CNN My Comment: This is riveting reading.