In science, is honesty really always the best policy?
Humans | Comment 14 February 2016
By Michael Brooks
How honest should data collectors be?
Christopher Kimmel/Getty
Ah, the naivety of the older generation. Nearly 500 eminent astronomers, biologists, chemists, physicists and earth scientists have been surveyed to identify the "core traits of exemplary scientists". Their answer? Honesty is critical, second only to curiosity, and we ought to do more to instil it in those considering science careers.
Ironically, they are deceiving themselves. Researchers have never been whiter than white. Here are a couple of revealing numbers. About 2 per cent of scientists admit to at least one act of research misconduct. …
Register for FREE to read this article in full
A study of nearly 2 million tweets over one year suggests that people in San Francisco feel disgusted when at hardware stores and Londoners are most joyful at motels
Preterm babies have a similar BMI at adolescence to peers born at term
By the time premature babies reach 14 to 19 years of age, they have, on average, a similar body mass index to peers born at term, according to an analysis of more than 250,000 people
A better understanding of PCOS offers fresh hope for new treatments
New insights into polycystic ovary syndrome are revealing more about the causes of this common but misunderstood whole-body condition, and these could lead to new treatments
Collision review: How CERN's stellar secrets became sci-fi gold
Margaret Drabble, Luan Goldie, Steven Moffat and Stephen Baxter are among the top writers in Collision, an anthology that transmutes CERN's elusive research into science fiction