OMG! ScienceBorgTM is like totally racist! (Updated)

Evidence? Here.
Any exculpatory evidence? You bet.
That’s all I got.
(except a h/t to the back chan, er, that thingum to which we must not refer. and Ack. and since we embrace the diversity, this. I’m out.)
Update 3/6/08: evolgen brings the snark, razib brings the data, Greg Laden discovers his whiteness.
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Updated 3/11/08: Apparently Alice is under the impression that this post was making fun of racial diversity issues. It was……sort of. It is true that I think bringing the funneeez can help in grappling with SeriousTopics. If we get too serious however, we have a chance of ending up with a totally perplexing message like this one. I’d rather if I’m going to post something obtuse and perplexing that at least you get a chuckle out of it…
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Updated 3/12/08: More on racial diversity in scienceblogging from ScienceWoman, Green Gabbro and Dr. Free-Ride.

How To Read A Retraction

Nature published a retraction today of a paper from the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner Linda Buck. The study used a trans-synaptic tracing method to determine ascending axonal projection patterns in olfactory cortex. Here is the substance of the retraction:

During efforts to replicate and extend this work, we have been unable to reproduce the reported findings. Moreover, we have found inconsistencies between some of the figures and data published in the paper and the original data. We have therefore lost confidence in the reported conclusions.

Let’s interpret the significance of the retraction, as well as an interesting comment made by someone in the field: