misconduct
jstemwedel | May 11, 2006Do you ever feel like hearing me rattle on instead of just reading it? Here's your chance!
You can listen to the first episode of the ScienceBlogs podcast, in which I speak with Katherine Sharpe about the evils of plagiarism (among other misdeeds) in the world of science.
jstemwedel | February 14, 2006Catching up on news that broke while I was doing stuff: the results of the University of Pittsburgh investigation of Gerald Shatten's conduct are out. As reported in the New York Times:
Dr. Gerald P. Schatten, a biologist at the University of Pittsburgh who was involved with Dr. Hwang Woo Suk and his discredited claim to have cloned human cells, was accused yesterday of "research misbehavior" by an investigative panel appointed by the university.
That's right, not research misconduct (which has a more or less standard definition, at least from the point of view of federal funders of…
jstemwedel | January 31, 2006I'm hammering away at the next edition of Tangled Bank (going up tomorrow) -- plus, you know, teaching and stuff -- but I wanted to give you a little something to work on. From New Scientist:
YOU could be forgiven for thinking that scientific fraud was in fashion. Weeks after the cloning superstar Woo Suk Hwang admitted faking research using human embryos, doubts have been cast over two other high-profile scientists.
Jon Sudbo of the Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, has already admitted inventing a study into whether anti-inflammatory drugs can improve the prognosis for oral cancer patients…
jstemwedel | January 5, 2006Since I'm in the blessed wee period between semesters, it's time to revisit some "old news" (i.e., stuff that I had to set aside in the end-of-semester crush). Today, a story from about a month ago, wherein the Rick Weiss of the Washington Post reports on the University of North Carolina's troubles obeying animal welfare regulations in its research labs.
You knew that the National Institutes of Health had all sorts of regulations governing the use of animals in research (and even an Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, whose webpages have a bunch of helpful links for those involved in such…
jstemwedel | January 4, 2006[Finally I'm actually healthy again, and not in a hotel charging $10 a day for internet access. So, on with the blog!]
It must be a law of nature that when past and current graduate students dine together at the end of December the conversation turns, sooner or later, to cheaters. First, of course, you discuss the head-slappingly stupid techniques cheating students employ. ("If they thought we wouldn't notice them doing that, they must think we're really stupid!") Then, you recount a sting operation or two (like planting someone next to a habitual cheater during an exam and having the…