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Con Men in Lab Coats [how science corrects itself]
Scientific American ^ | March 2006 | By the editors

Posted on 03/05/2006 10:14:03 AM PST by PatrickHenry

Five decades after it was revealed as a forgery, the Piltdown man still haunts paleoanthropology. Now, thanks to the disgraced stem cell researcher Woo Suk Hwang, cell biology has a high-profile scandal of its own to live down. Few recent papers in biology have soared as high in acclaim as Hwang's 2004 and 2005 announcements of cloning human embryonic stem cells -- or plummeted as fast into infamy with the discovery that they were rank fakes.

Embryonic stem cell (ESC) research is no less promising today than it was before Hwang's deceit was revealed; most investigators continue to believe that it will eventually yield revolutionary medical treatments. That no one has yet derived ESCs from cloned human embryos simply means that the science is less advanced than has been supposed over the past two years.

Still, Hwang has badly sullied the reputation of a field that already has more than its share of political and public relations problems. Some longtime opponents of ESC research will undoubtedly argue that Hwang's lies only prove that the investigators cannot be trusted to conduct their work ethically, and the public may believe them. This is one more crime against science for which Hwang should be ashamed. (A minor footnote to this affair is our removal of Hwang from the 2005 Scientific American 50 list; see the retraction on page 16.)

In recent years, fabricated data and other fakery have been uncovered in work on materials, immunology, breast cancer, brain aneurysms, the discovery of new elements and other subjects. As the volume of publication rises, fraud will probably rise with it. Because of the growing financial ties between university researchers and corporations, not to mention the jockeying for leadership among nations in high-stakes areas such as stem cells, some scientists may feel more pressure to deliver results quickly -- even if they have to make them up.

These affairs have something in common with the Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass scandals that not long ago rocked mainstream journalism: all these scams exploited the trust that editors extend to submitting authors. The editors and peer reviewers of scientific journals cannot always verify that a submitted paper's results are true and honest; rather their main job is to check whether a paper's methodology is sound, its reasoning cogent and its conclusions noteworthy. Disconfirmation can only follow publication. In that sense, the Hwang case shows how science's self-correcting mechanism is supposed to work.

Yet it is important not to brush off the Hwang case as a fluke without considering its lessons for the future. For instance, Hwang's papers had many co-authors, few of whom seem to have been party to the cover-ups. But what responsibilities should co-authors have for making sure that papers bearing their names are at the least honest?

We should also think hard about whether Hwang's deceit went undetected for months because so many scientists and science journalists wanted to believe that ESC research was progressing rapidly, because that would hasten the arrival of miraculous therapies and other biomedical wonders. Extraordinary results need to be held suspect until confirmed independently. Hwang is guilty of raising false expectations, but too many of us held the ladder for him.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: crevolist; fraud; research; science; stemcells; woosukhwang
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To: Right Wing Professor
Of course, the haldol does make things a bit fuzzy.

Poor baby,, see if your doctor can prescribe less for you.

661 posted on 03/06/2006 5:46:39 PM PST by zeeba neighba (:DUDE--Where's my HomePage?!!!!!)
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To: VadeRetro
"Anything that looks like a bear is too big for my yard. I don't care how cute and vegetarian and shy it's supposed to be.

Anything larger than a cat is too big for my backyard. I live in a condo complex where the back yards are about 10m by 10m. Just enough room to set up a BBQ and invite a half dozen friends over for steak and beer.

662 posted on 03/06/2006 5:49:50 PM PST by b_sharp (Science adjusts theories to fit evidence, creationism distorts evidence to fit the Bible.)
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To: tallhappy
I was stating that the conclusions drawn were based on a lack of information.

LOL. Lack of information?

How many examples of shared ERVs and pseudogenes would you like to see before you are reasonably convinced of common descent?

Genomic science is fascinating and is finding a lot of unexpected things and will continue to do so.

Nothing out of latest comparative genomics has cast any doubt on the previous studies whatsoever.

I think you *finally* see this, however you are still going to play dumb for the cause (whatever the hell that might be).

663 posted on 03/06/2006 5:50:08 PM PST by RightWingNilla
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To: zeeba neighba

Projection is another symptom. It must be tough, not knowing which are your thoughts, and which ones are being beamed in through your tooth fillings.


664 posted on 03/06/2006 5:51:29 PM PST by Right Wing Professor
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To: b_sharp
I have mountain lions and coyotes, but I just love tracking a big old mean bear and catching it.
665 posted on 03/06/2006 5:51:32 PM PST by zeeba neighba (:DUDE--Where's my HomePage?!!!!!)
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To: Right Wing Professor
Cleared of the hype, what this means is the common ancestor of humans, chimps and gorillas had a particular HERV insertion. The insertion persisted until after humans and chimps diverged, and then got deleted from the human line.

This was a card in tallhappy's last game of three card monty.

Today we are fixating on a "surprising" new retroviral element in chimps.

666 posted on 03/06/2006 5:54:21 PM PST by RightWingNilla
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To: Right Wing Professor
re: Then he goes off on another thread, smears you, and (of course) proves your already low opinion of you by not being Mensch enough to ping you to his libel.)))

Excuse me, but are you really talking about menschen here? Who developed this system of "you can't talk to me on a discussion forum", anyway? After years --(and I've been here since '98, though I had to start over in 2000 because of a i-stalker, a real one) -- on FR, the only "don't ping me" I've ever heard was in an evo thread.

You should not make available so much personal info. I am speaking from hard experience.

667 posted on 03/06/2006 5:58:03 PM PST by Mamzelle
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To: RightWingNilla
Today we are fixating on a "surprising" new retroviral element in chimps.

Life is full of surprises, and every one a fatal flaw in evolution, in the mind of a creationist. And when the inevitable mundane explanation presents itself, never mind, instant amnesia will take hold, and in another day or two we'll have another surprise.

668 posted on 03/06/2006 5:58:47 PM PST by Right Wing Professor
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To: Right Wing Professor; tallhappy; zeeba neighba
Well what about you RWP?

Not to take away from your accopmplsihents (and I would not want to do it even if I could) you are a perfect example that academic attainment does not inure one from all the foibles and failures of humanity-logic. If you were able to see it, you might get a chuckle. Its the Irish thing, I know Sigh, my family has some Irish there too.

I mean you thought ROUND UP would take a Wolf out!! LOLOL And what was that other chemical?? I never even heard of it till you mentioned it. And you sounded authoritative on the drug too.

Wolf
669 posted on 03/06/2006 6:02:25 PM PST by RunningWolf (Vet US Army Air Cav 1975)
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To: Right Wing Professor
though I had to start over in 2000 because of a i-stalker, a real one

Now theres a real glutton for punishment.

670 posted on 03/06/2006 6:02:28 PM PST by RightWingNilla
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To: Right Wing Professor
Sigh, you know I only haff one big toof and it's not filled, itsh capped.
671 posted on 03/06/2006 6:02:41 PM PST by zeeba neighba (:DUDE--Where's my HomePage?!!!!!)
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To: RunningWolf; Right Wing Professor; Mamzelle

Poor lil Professor-- he thought freshman worship extended into real life.


672 posted on 03/06/2006 6:05:15 PM PST by zeeba neighba (:DUDE--Where's my HomePage?!!!!!)
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To: Right Wing Professor
...proves your already low opinion of you by not being Mensch enough to ping you to his libel.

I consider it a bonus not to be pinged. These threads aren't really dialogs.

673 posted on 03/06/2006 6:07:18 PM PST by js1138
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To: zeeba neighba
"I have mountain lions and coyotes, but I just love tracking a big old mean bear and catching it."

If I lived anywhere outside the city, coyotes and foxes would be common in my back yard, but they seldom wander this far into the outskirts of the city. We do encounter them at times along with the even more infrequent forays into the city by moose and bear but so far none have reached my deck. Even though I have a number of bows and have done some hunting I wouldn't kill an animal that made it to my home. If they survive the idiot drivers in my neighbourhood they deserve to survive.

674 posted on 03/06/2006 6:07:41 PM PST by b_sharp (Science adjusts theories to fit evidence, creationism distorts evidence to fit the Bible.)
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To: tallhappy
Neither of you know the context of the discussion between the fellow who says he is right wing and a professor prior to my post you linked to.

You think we can't read and follow a thread back?

675 posted on 03/06/2006 6:08:53 PM PST by js1138
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To: RightWingNilla
Yep, a rabid leftie managed to find a business website, find my home and family, and then trace me here, and tried to harass me at work. Had to lose some FR seniority to start over under a new moniker.

And? So? Any menschen out there?

676 posted on 03/06/2006 6:09:44 PM PST by Mamzelle
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To: RunningWolf
It's the Irish thing, I know Sigh, my family has some Irish there too.

Wolfhound, or setter?

677 posted on 03/06/2006 6:10:39 PM PST by Right Wing Professor
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To: b_sharp

My property is posted No Hunting. Sometimes though, one wants to cause trouble so you have to put bait out and send it packing.


678 posted on 03/06/2006 6:10:54 PM PST by zeeba neighba (:DUDE--Where's my HomePage?!!!!!)
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To: Right Wing Professor

LMAO!!


679 posted on 03/06/2006 6:15:12 PM PST by RunningWolf (Vet US Army Air Cav 1975)
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To: RunningWolf
I mean you thought ROUND UP would take a Wolf out!!

Nah. I know roundup is severely toxic only to plants. I don't post threats.

680 posted on 03/06/2006 6:22:24 PM PST by Right Wing Professor
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