theGIST Issue 12

Science in the Spotlight
what this technique achieves but
with microscopy pictures of cells.
When these augmented computer-generated
images were shown
to pathologists, they were largely unable
to tell the difference between
them and the real data. By generating
these training sets, the information
gap between academics and
clinicians is bridged – all without violating
patient data protection. A
images are so similar to real data
that they slip through the net?
I contacted Péter Horváth and
Réka Hollandi to ask them their
thoughts about this and they share
my concerns. They showed me how
easily the data is generated and
commented on how researchers
with questionable practices could
use this to their gain. According to
Dr Horváth, big papers like Nature
Sadly, this is something we are
going to need to prepare for. As analysing
data gets easier, so does
fabricating it. Hopefully, scientific
magazines can train their own networks
to spot fake images and can
stay a step or two ahead in the cat
and mouse game. People will always
find a way to cheat. So, remain
critical and challenge data
you don't think looks right. In this
post-truth era, seeing isn't always
believing.
great innovation, with practical
applications for the medical
community.
Though ever being the cynic, I
don't see it that way. What Réka Hollandi
has achieved is to be praised -
let's be clear on that - but I worry
what this kind of software may be
used to achieve among the rogue
scientists in the community. All too
often, papers are retracted when
someone notices that they contain
manipulated data – but usually the
authors try to do this in Photoshop
(and god forbid, some of it looks like
it was done in MS Paint). But what
can we do when these pixel-perfect
will have their own filters to spot
fakes but he seriously doubts they
would be able to pick up data generated
in this way.
With technology like this, rogue
scientists could produce a
manuscript with realistic images
without ever even having to set foot
in the lab. Up until now, data manipulation
usually occurred when the
results just weren't good enough, or
when they didn't fit the hypothesis in
mind. Data was changed, not created.
www.the-GIST.org