Software is subbing mistakes into scientific papers
The names of genes are particularly vulnerable
MICROSOFT EXCEL’S zeal for autocorrection has long irritated casual users. Lists of numbers preceded by dashes are misread as instructions to subtract. Phone numbers lose their leading zeroes. Credit-card numbers get re-expressed in scientific notation.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Autoincorrect”
From the September 4th 2021 edition
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