Carol's mention of the sodium-potassium pump reminded me of an article that I came across recently in which the author, Gilbert Ling, accuses Nobel-prize winner, Roderick McKinnon, of plagiarizing Ling's work. In his paper, Ling essentially attempts to debunk the notion of the sodium potassium pump, a concept that seems to me to be more than well-established in biology, by providing various lines of evidence, mostly coming from his lab, for an alternative theory. In the process, he seems to demonstrate that McKinnon should have known about Ling's work but appears to ignore it (rightly so, perhaps?). Not having the proper background in biology, nor the time to look into these matters closely, it is difficult for me to ascertain the legitimacy of the two claims: 1) That McKinnon failed to credit Ling's work; 2) the evidence for and against the notion of the sodium potassium pump. For those who may be curious about the paper, it may be accessed directly from http://www.physiologicalchemistryandphysics.com/pdf/PCP39-89_ling.pdf ,
An interesting, if not glaring, detail about the legitimacy of Ling's claims is that the journal, http://www.physiologicalchemistryandphysics.com/default.htm , in which the paper appears in and which dates back to 1969, but ends in 2008, contains several papers most, if not all, of which are authored or co-authored by Ling. Ling is also its 'Chief Editor'. In addition to the allegations of plagiarism, this case is interesting from a couple of other angles (e.g., mentoring of graduate students, their marketability, the nature of unconventional claims). I was wondering if any of you are familiar with this case and, if so, if you would provide some short commentary. Miguel ----- Original Message ----- From: "DeVolder Carol L" <[email protected]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 12:26:01 PM Subject: [tips] Khan Academy My son told me about this site. Maybe I'm the last person to discover it, but I thought I'd share it just in case. It seems to be a useful resource. So far I've only looked at the anatomy of a neuron and sodium-potassium pumps. I'd be interested in others' opinions. http://www.khanacademy.org/ Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c74e&n=T&l=tips&o=7571 or send a blank email to leave-7571-13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7575 or send a blank email to leave-7575-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
