Faking the Results (and Fixing the Damage Done)
Scientists consider new ways to prevent and spot research misconduct In a series of studies designed to assess two anti-tissue-rejection drugs, former University of Alabama–Birmingham surgeons Judith Thomas and Juan Contreras carefully detailed experiments in which they replaced one kidney in rhesus monkeys with a foreign one and, a month later, removed the remaining native kidney. The new organs took, they reported. The drugs worked. But according to a July report from the federal Office of Research Integrity, that second kidney was never removed from at least 32 of the 70 animals. The scientists denied intentional wrongdoing, but the promising drug has been deemed bogus. The experiments also cost taxpayers: The National Institutes of Health poured $23 million into the work over eight years. A recent report suggests that scientific misconduct like this is not uncommon. Daniele Fanelli, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland,...