Cathleen O'Grady

Edinburgh

Science Writer at Freelance

Correspondent at Science Magazine

Science journo. No longer here. Find me on Signal at cathleen_ogrady.14 or @cathleenogrady.bsky.social

Featured in: Favicon

science.org Favicon

theguardian.com Favicon

nationalgeographic.com Favicon

theatlantic.com Favicon

wired.com

arstechnica.com Favicon

thedailybeast.com Favicon

smithsonianmag.com Favicon

fivethirtyeight.com Favicon

thewire.in + 5 more

Articles

Social media consensus paper causes social media uproar

2 weeks ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

A preprint reporting an “expert consensus” on key questions about teen smartphone use and mental health has come under heavy fire on social media, with critics saying the paper has severe weaknesses and the evidence in the field is too thin to support consensus. “I think it’s a waste of time,” says Pete Etchells, a psychologist at Bath Spa University who studies digital technology.
Low-quality papers are surging by exploiting public data sets and AI

3 weeks ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

Last year, Matt Spick began to notice oddly similar papers flooding in for peer review at Scientific Reports, where he is an associate editor. He smelled a rat. The papers all drew on a publicly available U.S. data set: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which through health exams, blood tests, and interviews has collected dietary information and other health-related measurements from more than 130,000 people.
High-flying ecologist blurred boundaries, broke financial rules, ETH Zürich report finds

1 month ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

Thomas Crowther, the ETH Zürich ecologist whose rapid rise to prominence brought him intense media coverage, large research grants, and a position advising the United Nations, blurred personal and professional boundaries and broke rules regarding financial compliance and hiring, according to a report the university released last week.
‘Unethical’ AI research on Reddit under fire

1 month ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

A study that used artificial intelligence–generated content to “participate” in online discussions and test whether AI was more successful at changing people’s minds than human-generated content has caused an uproar because of ethical concerns about the work. This week some of the unwitting research participants publicly asked the University of Zürich (UZH), where the researchers behind the experiment hold positions, to investigate and apologize.
High-flying ecologist blurred boundaries, broke financial rules, ETH Zürich report finds

1 month ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

Thomas Crowther, the ETH Zürich ecologist whose rapid rise to prominence brought him intense media coverage, large research grants, and a position advising the United Nations, blurred personal and professional boundaries and broke rules regarding financial compliance and hiring, according to a report the university released last week.
‘Uniquely human’ language capacity found in bonobos

2 months ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

Human language can combine words to create an infinite number of meanings—an ability that gives language its expressive power and sets it apart from the communication of other animals. Now, researchers have found a more modest version of this ability in bonobos, our closest living relative. The apes can combine different calls to create new meanings, the team reports this week in Science.
ScienceAdviser: Ancient mammals show their true colors

2 months ago | science.org | Christie Wilcox |Sarah Crespi |Meagan Cantwell |Cathleen O'Grady

Today’s Future News looks at a preprint arguing for a small but tough new model organism for neuroscience. But first, catch up on the latest science news, including insights into why the brain sometimes interprets harmless things as painful. Paleontology | News from Science Early mammals wore dark coats to survive a dino-dominated world Mammals from the Jurassic period were small, nocturnal, and most likely dark in color.
Implants can help deaf kids hear-but many still struggle with spoken language

2 months ago | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

This story uses both “Deaf” and “deaf” depending on what sources expressed as their preferred term. Cason was 3 years old when doctors in South Carolina fitted him with cochlear implants—assistive devices for profoundly deaf people that send sound directly into the inner ear. Because the signal from the implants is not the same as biological hearing, implant users like Cason work hard to interpret what they hear through them.
Why sign language could be crucial for kids with cochlear implants, studying the illusion of pain, and recent political developments at NIH

2 months ago | science.org | Sarah Crespi |Meagan Cantwell |Cathleen O'Grady |Jocelyn Kaiser

Share: First up this week, science policy editor Jocelyn Kaiser joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the latest news about the National Institutes of Health—from reconfiguring review panels to canceled grants to confirmation hearings for a new head, Jay Bhattacharya. Next, although cochlear implants can give deaf children access to sound, it doesn’t always mean they have unrestricted access to language. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady about why...
Citations drop after scientists accused of sexual, but not scientific, misconduct

Mar 5, 2025 | science.org | Cathleen O'Grady

When a celebrity is accused of abuse, fans grapple with the question of whether to continue to engage with that person’s work. Now, researchers have explored whether scientists feel similarly about accused scholars—and found that they tend to avoid citing alleged sexual harassers. Scholars accused of sexual misconduct see a drop in their citations in the years after public allegations, according to the study, published today in PLOS ONE.