The Best and the Worst of Science

COVID-19 has revealed the extraordinary possibilities that can manifest when global scientific know-how is trained on a single topic.
 
The virus was fully sequenced in January and a Phase 3 vaccine clinical trial is finishing in the fall.

“Holy mackerel,” said Anthony Fauci, NIAID chief.  

By September 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine had received 30,000 submissions—16,000 more than in all of 2019.
 
At the same time, the pandemci has also revealed the greatest flaws of the scientific enterprise, from “warped incentives” to “poseur” papers to biomedical bias, writes Ed Yong in a must-read piece. 

“... COVID‑19 has exposed them all. And in doing so, it offers the world of science a chance to practice one of its most important qualities: self-correction.”
 
The Atlantic