science scandals

Australian Medical Journal In Tatters Following Editor’s Dismissal

The editor of The Medical Journal of Australia has been fired for raising concerns over the decision by the journal’s publisher to outsource production to Elsevier. In response, the journal’s advisory committee has resigned in a show of support. Photo of AMJ president Brian Owler. (Credit: Andrew Meares) The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that…

The American Psychological Association Colluded On Justifying Torture

A new report is accusing the American Psychological Association of secretly collaborating with the U.S. government to make a legal and ethical case for torture in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. As the New York Times is reporting, the accusations are being made by six “dissident” health professionals and human rights activists who…

Archaeologists Have Dig Licenses Revoked After “Million Mummies” Claim

A team of archaeologists from Brigham Young University in Utah have had their excavation license revoked by the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry after claiming to have discovered “one million mummies.” Top image: A “mummified” 18-month girl with bracelets on both arms (Credit: BYU Excavations) Last week, BYU team leader Kerry Muhlestein announced the discovery of a…

The Most Hilarious Proofreading Mistake in a Scientific Paper Ever

This is an actual quote from a scientific paper, published recently — and clearly without editing. Apparently the authors didn’t think much of one of the papers they were citing. And their publisher didn’t bother to edit out their pre-publication snark. Ugh, this is not the kind of thing you want to see in a…

Geologists Found “Not Guilty” of Causing Deaths in Italian Quake

An appeals court has cleared seven experts of manslaughter charges after being accused of failing to adequately warn citizens of the risk before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009. The verdict had outraged many in the scientific community. The six scientists and one governmental officialwere facing six-year jail terms in the wake of a…

Recently Discovered Big Bang “Smoking Gun” Could Be A Bust

Eight weeks ago, physicists announced that they’d discovered evidence of gravitational waves in the early universe, potential proof that our universe began with a bang and inflated from there. But the most significant cosmological discovery in years might just be an experimental artifact. Back in March, Harvard professor John Kovac and his team announced to…

Japanese Institute To Check 20,000 Published Papers For Irregularities

It’s the science scandal that keeps on giving. After Japanese researchers came under scrutiny for questionable data and duplicated images, the RIKEN institute is asking lab and research group leaders to check all of their previous publications for plagiarism and doctored images. This is still a developing story. A couple of weeks ago, RIKEN announced…

Co-author of stem-cell study ‘loses faith’ in paper

After claiming to have developed a novel technique for coaxing the growth of stem cells in an acid bath, Japanese researchers have come under scrutiny for apparent irregularities. In the latest twist, one of the paper’s coauthors has admitted that the study should be retracted. Soon after the paper was published, it was criticized for…

A potential Nobel-winning stem-cell study is now under investigation for irregularities. Haruko Obokata rocked the science world last month by showing how stem-cells could be reprogrammed by an acid bath. Japan’s RIKEN institute has now launched an inquiry following allegations of duplicate images and numerous failed attempts to replicate the results.

A Nobel winner has declared a boycott of top science journals, including Nature, Cell, and Science. Biologist Randy Schekman says leading academic journals are distorting the scientific process, encouraging trendy research, and taking bribes. It’s a “tyranny,” he says, that must be broken.