3 ms·
That Noble Prize thread was a little chilling. Are these researchers collaborating on this virus or keeping findings to themselves?
by stainforth 6y ago
That Noble Prize thread was a little chilling. Are these researchers collaborating on this virus or keeping findings to themselves?
- phobosanomaly 6y agoOk, fair enough. I dunno if I'm 100% on this, but I'll argue it: It's important to keep in mind the difference between clinical and basic lab research. Basic lab research is done in a sort of a closed system. There's a small group of people (grad students, post-docs) working on a limited set of projects. They all have their individual lab notebooks that are property of the lab. Nobody has to disclose anything to anybody, except the IRB and whoever is handing out grant money. The head of the lab, well their entire career depends on what that...lab...does... There is no plan B, other than teaching at a liberal-arts school or community college. Most clinical researchers aren't as against-the-ropes in terms of their career as PhDs, because they're doctors and they can just go do medicine. Wups, my clinical study didn't work out, guess I'll go be absolutely.........fine.......... Plus, it's harder to keep things secret in a hospital. There's a lot more variables, and it's not as closed a system as a lab. So for the COVID stuff, you have both MDs/DOs and PhDs working alongside each other in multidisciplinary teams. Thus, information is not as readily concealable and so there's less paranoia because....well, what's the point?