A year ago, we wrote about a scandal in which a researcher had fraudulently "photoshopped" some images used in research that misdirected some Alzheimer's research for perhaps a decade. But, as it turns out, this was not an isolated situation. Apparently quite a few research papers have been based on inappropriately altered images, and amateur detectives have been out finding them. At least some of them.
This week, Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne resigned due to questions about some of his published research, research in which some images had been inappropriately manipulated. Tessier-Lavigne was a neurologist known for research in Alzheimer's disease, although image manipulation does not appear to have been involved in that research.
For me, what stands out here is damage to the public perception of the legitimacy of scientific research. Especially after concerns about politicized covid information during the pandemic, my sense is that public trust has fallen dramatically.
No comments:
Post a Comment