Image by Freepik
AI-Generated Rat Sparks Scrutiny Over Millions Of Scientific Papers
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
The AI-generated rat picture in a retracted study reveals a deeper crisis of overwhelmed scientists and low-value papers flooding academic journals each year.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Over 3 million papers published yearly; many are low quality.
- Peer review system is overwhelmed and unsustainable.
- Royal Society plans major review of scientific publishing.
An AI-generated rat image in a retracted study reveals the A bizarre scientific paper featuring a rat with an oversized penis and testicles labeled “dck” and “testtomcels” became an online joke, as previously noted by the Telegraph .
However, it also shed light on a growing crisis in academic publishing, as noted in a new review by The Guardian .
Published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology , the study included AI-generated images that were never verified for accuracy. Despite the paper passing peer review, it was retracted just three days later.
But scientists say this isn’t just a funny mistake, it’s part of a much bigger issue. Millions of scientific papers are being published each year, many of questionable quality.
According to Clarivate data, reported by The Guardian, research output rose 48% from 2015 to 2024. Peer review, the traditional safeguard, is overwhelmed, with experts spending over 100 million hours reviewing papers in 2020 alone.
“The incentive should be quality, not quantity. It’s about re-engineering the system in a way that encourages good research from beginning to end.” said Sir Mark Walport of the Royal Society, as reported by The Guardian. “Volume is a bad driver,” he added.
Open access publishing, where authors pay to publish papers freely online, has made science more accessible, but also profitable.
The Guardian reports that some publishers now push for more submissions, with Swiss firm MDPI charging £2,600 per paper and offering over 3,000 special issues in a single journal. Critics warn that this model rewards quantity over scientific value.
“The far greater danger by volume and by total numbers is the stuff that’s genuine but uninteresting and uninformative,” said Dr. Mark Hanson of Exeter University, as reported by The Guardian. Nobel laureate Prof. Andre Geim agrees: “I do believe that researchers publish too many useless papers.”
The Royal Society is preparing a major review on the future of scientific publishing. With AI and global expansion reshaping the field, experts are calling for urgent reforms, before trust in science erodes even further.
AI-Tracks-Facial-Expressions-To-identify-PTSD
USF Develops AI Tool To Detect PTSD in Kids Through Facial Cues
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
A new AI tool from USF detects PTSD in children by analyzing facial expressions, offering clinicians a private, non-verbal way to assess trauma.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- USF researchers built an AI tool to detect PTSD in children’s facial expressions.
- The AI analyzes anonymized facial movements during trauma-related interviews.
- PTSD is hard to diagnose in children due to avoidance and communication challenges.
The researchers of this new study explain that diagnosis of PTSD in children is extremely challenging because children find it difficult to communicate their traumatic experiences through words.
To tackle this issue, the researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) have developed an AI-powered diagnostic tool, which shows promise to transform current practices. The system uses facial expression analysis to identify PTSD symptoms in children, thus providing clinicians with an objective, cost-effective trauma assessment method.
Led by USF professors Alison Salloum, an expert in childhood trauma, and Shaun Canavan, a specialist in AI and facial analysis, the project combines real-time emotion recognition with patient privacy protection. “Avoidance is a main component of PTSD, so children don’t want to talk about it,” Salloum said to Tampa Bay Times (TBT). “There are lots of reasons — one is just the sheer horror of what happened.”
Traditional methods rely on interviews and questionnaires, which often fall short because children lack the cognitive ability to express their feelings, or fear disturbing their family members.
However, Salloum observed that children displayed hidden emotions through their facial expressions during virtual interviews. She approached Canavan about the possibility of technological detection of these moments. “I was confident it would work,” he said to TBT.
The research team worked with anonymized video data from 18 children to record hundreds of thousands of video frames. The AI system detected the minimal emotional responses which are typical for PTSD patients. The researchers made sure to store no raw video content.Only facial movement data and contextual information were used.
The study is the first to incorporate context-specific PTSD classification while preserving user privacy. The team hopes to develop a real-time system, which will include a clinician interface.
Salloum emphasized that AI won’t replace human evaluation but will support it. “It doesn’t replace the other methods of asking questions, conversations and interviews about what the person has experienced,” she said to TBT. “It’s really a tool,” she added.
The researchers say to TBT that they hope that the system may one day help other groups too, like combat veterans or abuse survivors, offering clinicians a new lens into trauma.
