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A controlled trial for reproducibility

For three years, part of DARPA has funded two teams for each project: one for research and one for reproducibility. The investment is paying off.
  1. Marc P. Raphael

    1. Marc P. Raphael is a biophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, USA.

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  2. Paul E. Sheehan

    1. Paul E. Sheehan is a programme manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office in Arlington, Virginia, USA.

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  3. Gary J. Vora

    1. Gary J. Vora is a biologist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, USA.

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Cartoon of a scientist pouring liquid into a leaking test tube while anther does the same experiment without the flaw.

Illustration by David Parkins

In 2016, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) told eight research groups that their proposals had made it through the review gauntlet and would soon get a few million dollars from its Biological Technologies Office (BTO). Along with congratulations, the teams received a reminder that their award came with an unusual requirement — an independent shadow team of scientists tasked with reproducing their results.

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Nature 579, 190-192 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00672-7

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