Cold shoulder

Americans view scientists as highly competent but do not trust them, researchers at Princeton University concluded after conducting an online poll of adults.

Americans are particularly suspicious of researchers seeking grant funding or pushing particular agendas. “Rather than persuading, scientists may better serve citizens by discussing, teaching and sharing information to convey trustworthy intentions,” lead author and psychology professor Susan Fiske said.

Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and consultant at the Center for Bioethics and Culture was more blunt: Scientists too often seek to “harness our general support for science as the horses to pull their own political/ideological agenda carts.”

Participants in the study rated the most common American jobs according to public perceptions of competence and warmth, which was used as a measure of trustworthiness. Helping professionals such as teachers, doctors, and nurses rated high on both warmth/trust and competence. Prostitution rated low on both measures. Secretaries, writers, law enforcement officers, and bus drivers were among the professionals deemed neutral on both measures. Engineers, accountants, and attorneys joined scientists in ratings of high competence but low warmth/trust.

Mind over machines

Robots flying through the air and computers controlled merely by a human thought may sound like science fiction, but researchers at the University of Minnesota are turning the concept into reality. Last year professor Bin He and several students learned to use their thoughts to make a flying robot turn, rise, dip, and sail through a ring.

He found, however, that many people have difficulty learning the technique. More recent research shows that meditation training may be the secret. He discovered that people trained in meditation are twice as likely to achieve a brain-computer interface task within 30 trials and are three times faster at the task than those who have no meditation training.

The procedure is noninvasive. Brain waves are picked up by electrodes in a cap worn on the scalp. Merely thinking about a movement causes neurons in the brain’s motor cortex to produce tiny electric currents that are picked up by the electrodes and used to power a robot or control a computer. Thinking about different types of movement activates different assortments of neurons.

The technology may someday allow people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases to control artificial limbs, wheelchairs, or other devices. —J.B.

Ebola long shots

The use of experimental drugs to treat or prevent Ebola in West Africa is ethical, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded in August.

Preventive drugs and treatment vaccines show promising results in animal studies but are only in the beginning stages of human testing, which ordinarily takes at least two years to complete. Because the epidemic is so widespread and has such a high fatality rate, WHO endorses the use of these drugs even though they may be ineffective or have dangerous side effects.

The first vaccines may be used in West Africa as early as January, but ethical issues remain, including how to distribute the limited supply of drugs. Experts interviewed by the Reuters news service said the vaccines should be given first to frontline healthcare workers because they are vital in curbing the epidemic. Others argue that giving preferential treatment to professionals is inequitable to economically impoverished Africans.

Since many Africans distrust Western drug companies, they may not want to be used as guinea pigs, especially if the experimental drugs result in adverse side effects, Armand Sprecher, a physician with Doctors Without Borders, told Science. —J.B.