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John Hawks
@johnhawks.net

Wow, this is maybe the first time I've seen academics use the "eLetters" section as if it weren't just blog comments. It only took two decades for post-publication review to get started. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgA mid-Holocene age for Monte Verde challenges the timeline of human colonization of South AmericaOur understanding of the timing of the human colonization of South America has been anchored by the Monte Verde II site in Chile, reported to date to ~14,500 years before the present (B.P.) and regard...

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Graham Coop
@gcbias.bsky.social

I think this is because Science is sadly no longer publishing technical responses to articles bsky.app/profile/wsde...

William DeWitt@wsdewitt.github.io

It was announced in this editorial that technical-comment-and-rebuttals will be ceased in favor of what they call “eLetters”, which are not indexed in the scholarly record, and appear to be nothing more than blog-style comments that can't include substantive technical content like figures/data/math.

science.orgStrengthening the scientific recordScience is a social process. Discoveries—even by supposed “lone” geniuses—do not become knowledge until the findings are shared with the scientific community, to be vetted, challenged, and expanded on...
Graham Coop
@gcbias.bsky.social

It would be great if this was the start of more rapidly back & forth, but sadly it seems mainly like Science walking away from allowing formal rebuttals.