Oops Researcher censured

[antichrist]

Researcher censured for faking study data

Mr. Razem, working in the lab of Professor Robert Hill, claimed to have discovered a receptor for the major hormone linked to a plant’s response to environmental stress. The receptor that has eluded scientists for two decades was identified in an article and featured in the editor’s summary in the January 2006 edition of Nature, one of the world’s most renowned international science journals. Tracking down that hormone receptor would be a major breakthrough for agricultural science, as it could help plants better adapt to cold or drought.

www.kelowna.com/2009/08/05/researcher-censured-for-faking-study-data/

See scientists are all liars [/fundie]

[MaybeNever]

Huh. I can't imagine who caught him in the lie. I'm sure it was a godly man who found the relevant prophecy in the Bible, though.

[schizophonic]

Aug 6, 2009 16:49:41 GMT -5 MaybeNever said:

Huh. I can't imagine who caught him in the lie. I'm sure it was a godly man who found the relevant prophecy in the Bible, though.

Oh, Bible, is their anything your hidden secrets cannot answer?

On a side note, I'm gonna start publishing bullshit studies just to see how long until I'm caught.

I suspect in three...Two...

[wmdkitty]

Aug 5, 2009 23:21:09 GMT -5 @antichrist said:

Researcher censured for faking study data

Mr. Razem, working in the lab of Professor Robert Hill, claimed to have discovered a receptor for the major hormone linked to a plant’s response to environmental stress. The receptor that has eluded scientists for two decades was identified in an article and featured in the editor’s summary in the January 2006 edition of Nature, one of the world’s most renowned international science journals. Tracking down that hormone receptor would be a major breakthrough for agricultural science, as it could help plants better adapt to cold or drought.

www.kelowna.com/2009/08/05/researcher-censured-for-faking-study-data/

See scientists are all liars [/fundie]

Just my opinion, but, the scientist in question was probably some kind of fundie himself. Anyone who is serious about science -- and it's SRS BZNS! -- would be more invested in the REAL results, rather than fabricating the desired results.

[MaybeNever]

As much as I'd love to believe that this guy has somehow "pre-tarnished" credentials, as it were, my own sense is that that's not too likely. Odds are that this guy was basically a normal scientist - the relevant study was postdoctoral work, after all - who did something incredibly stupid and got away with it for a few years. The baffling thing is that he thought he could get away with it at all. It took a few years, but once it was clear that the experiment could not be replicated the cat was out of the bag. At that point it didn't take too long to track down the source of the problem.

Unfortunately, there isn't much information about Dr. Razem on the 'Net. If he IS a fundie of any variety, we'd never know about it.

[schizophonic]

Aug 9, 2009 2:42:19 GMT -5 MaybeNever said:

As much as I'd love to believe that this guy has somehow "pre-tarnished" credentials, as it were, my own sense is that that's not too likely. Odds are that this guy was basically a normal scientist - the relevant study was postdoctoral work, after all - who did something incredibly stupid and got away with it for a few years. The baffling thing is that he thought he could get away with it at all. It took a few years, but once it was clear that the experiment could not be replicated the cat was out of the bag. At that point it didn't take too long to track down the source of the problem.

Unfortunately, there isn't much information about Dr. Razem on the 'Net. If he IS a fundie of any variety, we'd never know about it.

Of course, it could have just been a desire for fame, or any of a hundred other motives that fit as well as or better than him being a fundie. That's why we review science in the first place: To verify and eliminate the possibility for bias, error, and snake-oil salesmen. If we took anyone who made a proclamation at his word, science would actually be little more than religion.

[antichrist]

I wasn't saying he was a fundie. I figure he fudged the numbers under the "publish or perish" pressure. Also scientists are human and his ego was probably wrapped up in his pet theory.

My fundie comment was just that I can see fundies pointing at this guy, saying "see, he lied therefore all scientists are liars and you can't trust anything they say. Therefore the bible is true".