Agents, Modeling Processes, and the Allure of Prophecy

Ioannidis [Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med 2(8): e124 (2005)] identifies six factors that contribute to explaining why most of the current published research findings are more likely to be false than true, and argues that for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this article, we argue that three “hot” areas in current biological research, viz., agent-based modeling, evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo), and systems biology, are especially prone to the flaws.