![\"Genetics](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2020\/08\/rename-genes-confused-microsoft-excel-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>Formatting Error<\/h2>
It turns out that the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel is a major pain for geneticists. Because some genes have names similar to calendar dates, the program automatically reformats and totally messes up the datasets.<\/p>
It’s a surprisingly common problem that can have a serious impact on published research, The Verge <\/a><\/em>reports<\/a>. Because Microsoft isn’t about to update its software to cater specifically to geneticists, scientists ended up changing the names<\/a> of 27 human genes — such as MARCH1<\/em> — over roughly the course of a year and just published new naming guidelines<\/a>.<\/p> Excel can be particularly aggressive about automatically reformatting data. And since these errors need to be corrected twice — by the scientist conducting the research and again by anyone who loads the same data and accidentally triggers Excel to autoformat — some slip through the cracks. According to a 2016 study<\/a> in the journal Genome Biology<\/em> spotted by The Verge<\/em>, about 20 percent of 3,597 genetics papers contained Excel errors.<\/p> “It’s really, really annoying,” Quadrams Institute biologist Dezs? Módos told The Verge<\/em>. “It’s a widespread tool and if you are a bit computationally illiterate you will use it. During my PhD studies I did as well!”<\/p> With the new guidelines<\/a> in hand, scientists should hopefully be able to avoid naming new genes anything that might trip up Excel. For instance, MARCH1<\/em> is now MARCHF1<\/em>, and SEPT1<\/em> is now SEPTIN1<\/em>.<\/p> Thankfully, the changes were welcomed by annoyed geneticists, The Verge<\/em> reports, so hopefully the scourge of overeager spreadsheet software will finally be lifted from the field.<\/p> READ MORE: <\/strong>Scientists rename human genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates<\/a> [The Verge<\/em>]<\/p> More on genes: <\/strong>“Like Horoscope Readings!”: The Scammy World of DNA Test Startups<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post Scientists Had to Rename Genes Because They Confused Microsoft Excel<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Link: Formatting Error It turns out that the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel is a major pain for geneticists. Continue reading Saving Time<\/h2>
New Rules<\/h2>
Scientists Had to Rename Genes Because They Confused Microsoft Excel<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"