“Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck.”

Jim Moody points to this news article, “Why have papers by one of history’s most famous physicists been retracted? Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck. A bot may be to blame.” If you’re gonna retract something from Max Planck, I’d suggest starting here, with the notorious Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals defending Kaiser Wilhelm’s invasion of Belgium. Here are a couple of retractable passages: It is not true that the life and property of a single Belgian citizen was injured by our soldiers without the bitterest self-defense having made it necessary. It is not true that our troops treated Louvain brutally. Furious inhabitants having treacherously fallen upon them in their quarters, our troops with aching hearts were obliged to fire a part of the town as a punishment. I guess they were the world’s most moral army. “Aching hearts” . . . that must have absolutely sucked. Really mean of those Belgians for defending themselves. Just to be clear, I’m not…