Scientific joual cites a creator. Scientists say OMG - CNET

This doesn't seem like a title that would engender controversy.

However, within the study is wording that some found disturbing. For example, in discussing the very clever way in which muscles work with human hand movements, the paper attributes this to "the proper design of the Creator."

This isn't isolated phraseology. Later, the paper talks about how the fine coordination of the human hand "should indicate the mystery of the Creator's invention."

This has caused commenters on the article to rage against the creationist machine.

One comment is headlined "A shameful act." It reads: "Regretfully I have to withdraw my support for the joual as a reviewer. Also to bring this shameful incident to the attention of my academic colleagues and students who might consider submitting their work for publication at PLOS One."

The authors of the study were accused of "religious superstition." Three of those authors are from Huazhong University in China and one is from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Are they truly creationists?

PLOS One didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

But its editors did take to the Idea section on Wednesday to air their regret. They said their inteal review "revealed that the peer review process did not adequately evaluate several aspects of the work." The joual has retracted the article.

Of the wording "the Creator," PLOS One said in the Idea, "the PLOS One editors apologize that this language was not addressed inteally or by the Academic Editor during the evaluation of the manuscript."

Creationism or Intelligent Design finds itself very unwelcome in most scientific circles, especially when it's taught in public schools. Stephen Hawking, for example, has forcefully declared that there is no god.