Is AI the new research scientist? Not so, according to a human-led study

University of Florida

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In a comprehensive study examining the capabilities of artificial intelligence in academic research, University of Florida researchers have found that while AI can be a valuable assistant, it falls short of replacing human scientists in many critical areas.

The research, detailed in a paper titled “AI and the advent of the cyborg behavioral scientist,” tested how well popular generative AI models including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini could handle various stages of the research process.

The team put these AI systems through six stages of academic research – starting with ideation, literature review and research design, followed by documenting results, extending the research and the final manuscript production – while limiting any human intervention on their part.

What they discovered was a mixed bag of capabilities and limitations, presumably good news for research scientists wondering if AI will take their job.

“A pervasive fear surrounding these AIs is their ability to usurp human labor,” explained Geoff Tomaino, an assistant professor in marketing at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business. “In general, we found that these AIs can offer some assistance, but their value stops there, as assistance. These tools can do a great deal of legwork. However, the researcher still has a vital place in the process, acting as a director and critic of the AI, not an equal partner.”

Specifically, the researchers found AI to be a useful tool in the ideation process and research design, including the methods and stimulus design substages. In the literature review, results analysis and manuscript production stages, though, it struggled to produce valuable outputs and required substantial oversight.

Based on their findings, the University of Florida team advises researchers to maintain high skepticism toward AI outputs, treating them as starting points that require human verification and refinement. For journals, the researchers strongly recommend considering policies that call out AI assistance in research papers as well as largely prohibiting the use of AI in the research review process.

While their work primarily focused on if AI could do the job of an academic researcher, the team leading this study encourages researchers to reflect on if AI should perform their role. 

“We take a great deal of pride in the work we do as researchers,” Tomaino said. “The specific steps that bring us joy (and angst) as researchers are likely as varied as the research in which they are used. As these AI tools evolve, it will be up to each individual researcher to decide for which steps of the research process they want to become a cyborg behavioral researcher, and for which they would like to remain simply human.”

This research is published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

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Journal

Journal of Consumer Psychology

DOI

10.1002/jcpy.1453. 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

AI and the advent of the cyborg behavioral scientist

Article Publication Date

26-Mar-2025

 

By 2100, more than 80% of amphibian species in and around the Pantanal will lose suitable habitat

A study by Brazilian and Swiss researchers predicts that even in an optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenario, 99% of the area of the Upper Paraguay River Basin will be lost

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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image: 

The barramundi (Scinax squalirostris) could disappear from the Pantanal by 2100

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Credit: Diego Santana

A study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology shows that the Upper Paraguay River Basin, which includes the Pantanal and its surroundings, could lose almost all of the areas suitable for anuran amphibians (toads, frogs and tree frogs) by the end of the century.

By cross-referencing a database on species locations in the region with climate projections for 2100, researchers from Brazil and Switzerland also concluded that more than 80% of the species in this group will lose suitable habitat.

According to the projections, in the optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenario, in which current levels are maintained, 99.87% of the basin would experience local extinctions. In the pessimistic scenario, in which emissions increase, 99.99% of the region would suffer from species loss.

The first author of the study was Matheus Oliveira Neves, who conducted the research as part of his doctoral studies at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) in Brazil.

According to the research, the integral conservation units, which represent only 5.85% of the territory, protect on average less than 5% of the geographical distribution of amphibians.

In 2022, the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biodiversity recommended that 30% of the Earth’s surface be covered by protected areas by 2030 as a strategy to reduce species extinction.

The current rate is 17% and includes both conservation units and indigenous lands.

Given the data on amphibian biodiversity, the authors of the study propose the creation of new conservation units in the Upper Paraguay River Basin, in places that will be more suitable in the future for this group of animals, which is highly dependent on humidity.

“Fully protected conservation units are currently doing very little to protect amphibian species in the Pantanal, the world’s largest floodplain. Protected areas need to be expanded, considering the scenario of a hotter and drier future,” says Brazilian researcher Mario Ribeiro Moura, who coordinated the study during his time as a researcher at the Institute of Biology of the State University of Campinas (IB-UNICAMP), supported by FAPESP. 

Moura is currently a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). In the study, his group considered two climate change scenarios, following the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In the optimistic scenario, emissions would remain at current levels, resulting in a 2 °C increase in the average global temperature by 2100. In the pessimistic scenario, with emissions rising, the increase would be 4 °C.

More than 4,000 records were used for the 74 known amphibian species from the Upper Paraguay River Basin, which in addition to the Pantanal in Brazil also includes parts of Paraguay and Bolivia.

Possible futures

The few areas that would be suitable for hosting amphibians in the future, in both the optimistic and pessimistic emissions scenarios, are currently located in the north of the Upper Paraguay River Basin, in the transition to the Cerrado (Brazilian savannah-like biome), near Cuiabá (Mato Grosso state), and in the southeast of the region, near Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul state), as well as in the southwest, near the Paraguayan Chaco.

Among the current protected areas, none had higher amphibian richness than expected for the current climate scenario, although six of them (8.2%) had significantly lower richness than expected. The comparison was made with non-protected areas of the same size and shape, chosen at random.

The projections for the future also show a greater gain of species than expected in five of them (6.8%) in the optimistic scenario and in three (4.1%) in the pessimistic scenario. However, two and three (2.7% and 4.1%) in the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, respectively, show greater loss of species than expected.

“In summary, only 13.7% of the current protected areas in the Upper Paraguay River Basin have the potential to host more or lose fewer species in at least one future scenario. Most of these areas are indigenous lands,” explains Moura.

Although the researchers advocate the creation of new integral conservation units and the expansion of existing ones, they stress the need to mitigate the impacts of inappropriate agricultural practices and promote the restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

“While the Paris Agreement aimed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 °C by the end of the century, we already reached that level in 2024. The change in the economic model, currently based on fossil fuel consumption, needs to be radical to mitigate the impacts of the climate catastrophe on biodiversity and society,” concludes Moura.

About FAPESP

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration.

 

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Journal

Journal of Applied Ecology

DOI

10.1111/1365-2664.14846 

Article Title

Climate change threatens amphibians and species representation within protected areas in tropical wetlands

 

MSU researchers identify why 911 calls are delayed, failed, or dropped

Michigan State University

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Mar. 27, 2025

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EAST LANSING, Mich. – An estimated 240 million calls are made to 911 in the U.S. each year, with wireless devices accounting for 80% or more of these calls. Making sure emergency calls connect and stay connected to 911 dispatchers is essential and could have life-threatening consequences. MSU researchers found that in certain situations, 90% of emergency wireless calls failed to connect to 911 within 120 seconds but have developed an app to correct this.

Guan-Hua “Scott” Tu, an associate professor in the College of Engineering, and his team observed that despite sufficient wireless signal coverage, users may still experience prolonged emergency call setup times, call initiation failures, or call drops. 

“The systems and networks that support cellular emergency services are a double-edged sword,” said Tu. “While they allow for widespread access, they are numerous and complex in their interactions, leaving cellular emergency services prone to errors.”

Regulatory authorities like the Federal Communications Commission or FCC in the U.S. and standard organizations such as Third Generation Partnership Project or 3GPP have specifications to enhance the availability and effectiveness of these cellular emergency services. The FCC requires carriers to transmit all 911 calls to a Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP such as a 911 call center, regardless of whether the caller subscribes to them or not. 3GPP allows wireless callers to access emergency services across cellular and Wi-Fi networks. 

The researchers discovered that in locations with weak cellular signals but strong Wi-Fi signals, the problematic network selection can prevent 90% of emergency calls from reaching PSAPs within 2 minutes, compared to just 5.85 seconds for non-emergency calls in the same locations. 

"These locations are more common in indoor environments," said Yiwen Hu, a PhD candidate working with Tu. "Additionally, emergency call failures and drops occur when the user is moving, even with sufficient wireless coverage, due to restrictions in emergency services."

To identify potential design defects that lead to failures or delays in emergency services, Tu and Hu along with Li Xiao and University Foundation Professor Jiliang Tang collaborated with researchers from Purdue University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan to develop the M911-Verifier, an emergency-specific model-checking tool. 

Tu’s team also developed Emerg-Call-Dialer which is a free app that phone users can download. It helps address issues with cellular and Wi-Fi networks and prevents unnecessary long emergency call setup times.

“In our study, most emergency-specific designs function properly,” Tu said. “Our goal is not to criticize emergency service designs but to push for improvements that make them more reliable.”

The research was published in the Association for Computing Machinery’s digital library as part of MobiCom 2024. MobiCom, the Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, is a flagship conference on mobile computing and wireless networking, hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery.

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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world’s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For MSU news on the web, go to MSUToday or x.com/MSUnews.

 

The role of journals in medical misconduct

Journals must commit to processes that quickly evaluate allegations of misconduct, correct and retract, if necessary, what they publish

Boston University School of Medicine

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(Boston)—Editors of medical journals deal with allegations of research misconduct, defined by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the U.S. as fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. Research misconduct threatens the validity of science, undermines trust in science and contributes to misinformation and disinformation about science.

 

According to former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association Howard Bauchner, MD, “it is important that editors have a transparent and consistent process to deal

with these allegations quickly and fairly.“ Journals are the public conduit for research reports, review articles and opinion pieces and play an important role in adjudicating research misconduct. It is important for all journals to have a policy which carefully defines research misconduct and lays out a consistent stepwise approach to deal with allegations of misconduct,” says Bauchner, professor of pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

 

In a commentary in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Bauchner and his colleagues describe the responsibilities of editors to deal with allegations of misconduct.

 

They believe journals first need to determine if the allegation is consistent with research misconduct or may simply be an error requiring a correction or an exchange of letters to the editor. After these initial decisions are made, they believe the allegation should be forwarded with as much detail as possible to the corresponding author.

 

Bauchner points out that journals vary on whether the individual making the allegation can remain anonymous from both the journal and the author(s). He believes that it is best if the journal is aware of who is making the allegation, since it is possible that individuals may have their own biases, which could influence how the journal handles the allegation.

 

Bauchner acknowledges concerns on how long it often takes some journals to retract manuscripts. This may be in part because journals do not routinely provide deadlines to authors for a response or due to authors who choose not to respond or are slow to respond to queries about misconduct from a journal. “Delays in retraction occur because authors can be unresponsive, disagree with the allegations, or request repeated extensions. Delays also occur because institutional integrity officers cannot be identified, or if they are identified, they also request extensions. Investigations can involve multiple authors, are sometimes quite complex, and can take months to conduct,” he says.

 

Bauchner stresses that a uniform definition of research misconduct across institutions and journals would be helpful. “We acknowledge how challenging developing such a definition would be, given the various opinions about some concepts of misconduct, for example, undeclared conflicts of interest. Regardless, journals should apply any definition of misconduct consistently, which is easier to do if the definition of misconduct is specific and detailed.”

 

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Journal

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics

DOI

10.1017/jme.2025.35 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Research Misconduct and Medical Journals

Article Publication Date

27-Mar-2025

 

Electronic Screen Use and Sleep Duration and Timing in Adults

JAMA Network Open

About The Study: 

Daily screen use was associated with later bedtimes and approximately 50 minutes less sleep each week in this study. Associations were greater among those with evening chronotypes, who are at risk for poor sleep due to social jetlag (i.e., misalignment between circadian rhythms and social commitments). These findings confirm disruptions to sleep from electronic screens are not limited to children and adolescents. Further work is needed to understand the best mechanisms for intervention.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Charlie Zhong, PhD, email charlie.zhong@cancer.org.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.2493)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

#  #  #

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.2493?guestAccessKey=c0957767-f5eb-4d6d-88a4-15c747418b57&utm_source=for_the_media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=032725

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication. 

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

 

We must not ignore eugenics in our genetics curriculum, says professor

Cell Press

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To encourage scientists to speak up when people misuse science to serve political agendas, biology professor Mark Peifer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argues that eugenics should be included in college genetics curriculums. In an opinion paper publishing March 27 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Genetics, Peifer explains how he incorporated a discussion of eugenics into his molecular genetics course last year and why understanding the history of the field is critical for up-and-coming scientists. 

“Eugenics is not dead but continues to influence science and policy today,” writes Peifer (@peiferlabunc, @peiferlabunc.bsky.social). “We should include eugenics in our undergraduate classes, reminding students that scientists must speak out when others lie about science and use it to further their political views.” 

In his genetics course, Peifer led his students through the history of eugenics—a term that was coined in 1883 to describe the practice of promoting planned breeding for “racial improvement.” He explained how the idea gained global popularity during the 20th century and was used to justify forced sterilization, racist immigration policies, and genocide in Nazi Germany. The class also covered how eugenics was championed scientifically by some of the founding fathers of genetics and molecular biology—including James Watson, one of the scientists who co-discovered the structure of DNA. 

“The core ideas of eugenics are not things of the past—they fuel current political discourse, as political candidates talk about ‘good genes’ and ‘bad genes’ and suggest immigration is ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’” writes Peifer. “Science provides technology, but society decides how to use it.” 

To illustrate the relevance of eugenics in today’s world, Peifer ended the class by asking the students to discuss a series of questions surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo screening: Should we allow IVF? Should we allow embryo screening for cystic fibrosis? Should we allow screening for chromosomal sex? Should we allow screening for height?   

“Some might argue that with all the complex topics to cover, we don’t have time for a historical discussion with political overtones on our syllabi,” writes Peifer. “I think the centrality of genetics to society, the lives of our students, and their ability to make thoughtful choices make discussing eugenics critical. Our students will also be citizens and will help friends and family navigate complex decisions with science at their base.” 

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Trends in Genetics, Peifer, “We must not ignore eugenics in our genetics curriculum.” https://www.cell.com/trends/genetics/fulltext/S0168-9525(25)00028-9

Trends in Genetics (@TrendsGenetics), published by Cell Press, is a monthly review journal that provides researchers and students with high-quality, novel reviews, commentaries, and discussions to foster an appreciation for the advances being made on all fronts of genetic research. Visit http://www.cell.com/trends/genetics. To receive Cell Press media alerts please contact press@cell.com. 

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Journal

Trends in Genetics

DOI

10.1016/j.tig.2025.02.002 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

We must not ignore eugenics in our genetics curriculum

Article Publication Date

27-Mar-2025

 

State Minimum Wage and Food Insecurity Among US Households With Children

JAMA Network Open

About The Study:

 In this pooled cross-sectional study, findings suggest that state legislatures that elected to increase their state minimum wage may have also improved state food security rates among households with children at risk for economic hardship. The findings provide policymakers with actionable evidence to consider in setting minimum wages that could reduce the burden of food insecurity among U.S. children and families.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Megan R. Winkler, PhD, RN, email megan.winkler@emory.edu.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.2043)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

#  #  #

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.2043?guestAccessKey=c0957767-f5eb-4d6d-88a4-15c747418b57&utm_source=for_the_media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=032725

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication. 

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Journal

JAMA Network Open