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Many scientists have pointed out possible errors of analysis and interpretation in a high-profile study that suggested microbes can ease autism-like behaviors in mice. The backlash was swift, appearing on Twitter and the post-publication review site PubPeer within hours of the paper’s publication.
In the paper, published 30 May in Cell, Sarkis Mazmanian and his colleagues reported that fecal transplants from autistic boys can trigger autism-like behaviors in mice—and that molecules from certain microbes can ease these behaviors.
Minutes after the study was published, independent experts began raising concerns on Twitter about three graphs included in the paper.
Given the very high number of variables being probed, it's not surprising some differences are found. No replication samples are tested, so my prior expectation would be that these are spurious, until proven otherwise
They noted that the “p-value”—a measure of statistical significance—accompanying each graph seemed implausible.
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