the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

Blinded by Science Project

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(Professor Frink, The Simpsons)

Jack at Jack’s Shack linked to this article about scientists "stretching the truth" in some of their scientific data.

Few scientists fabricate results from scratch or flatly plagiarize the work of others, but a surprising number engage in troubling degrees of fact-bending or deceit, according to the first large-scale survey of scientific misbehavior.

More than 5 percent of scientists answering a confidential questionnaire admitted to having tossed out data because the information contradicted their previous research or said they had circumvented some human research protections.

Ten percent admitted they had inappropriately included their names or those of others as authors on published research reports.

And more than 15 percent admitted they had changed a study’s design or results to satisfy a sponsor, or ignored observations because they had a "gut feeling" they were inaccurate.

I have no doubt that scientists are involved in fact-bending.  After working on a scientific project for years, there’s probably a strong temptation to cheat.

I have something to reveal that has remained hidden for many years.  I faked some data in a science project. 

I should first say that I’ve never cheated on a test in my life, but one summer I found my Achilles’ heel.   I was a junior in high school and I got a scholarship to go to Michigan State University for a summer science program, where I was supposed to work on my Westinghouse Project (now called the Intel Science Talent Search).   To win a Westinghouse was like winning the Oscar for best science project. 

My project:  I was going to use an aerobic soil-dwelling organism called Azotobacter vinelandii to help make wheat grow into some sort of super-wheat.  I was personally going to solve the world’s hunger problem and win the Nobel Prize (or at least get into a good college).   During the course of the summer, the other science nerds and I worked on our projects. 

One beautiful summer day, I must have been flirting with Hoshiko, the brainy Japanese girl from New Jersey, when I accidentally put my spit into the pipet.  Weeks later, my data made no sense.   My spit and the Azotobacter vinelandii had spent the nights mating, rather than growing my wheat into super-wheat.  I knew my destiny was to save the world from hunger, so a few changes here and there in the data put my experiment back on track.

No, I didn’t win the Westinghouse, but I did come in 2nd place in the Queens County Science Fair.   I never saw Hoshiko again, either.   I saw the way she looked at me at the end of the summer.  She knew and she was disappointed in me — the first in several woman to feel that way.  When I finally went to college at Columbia, I switched my major to English Literature, an academic endeavor where making up nonsense in term papers was perfectly acceptable.

Boy, that felt good to get off my chest.   I don’t want to start another religion discussion, but maybe Catholics have it right with that confession thing.

6 Comments

  1. Josia

    Where do you get this stuff Neil?? :)Scientists are very aware that they have a hit a wall in terms of discovery – they’ve reached a point (actually a couple of decades ago) and understand that they know nothing beyond that point. Kabbalah explains everything beyond that point. That’s why kabbalist Michael Laitman is meeting with top scientists around the world nowadays – he met with the scientists from What The Bleep and then Jeffrey Satinover joined us the following month in Israel and talked about Quantum Physics at our international congress in Passover.

  2. Jack

    And to think that you could have prevented the need for Live 8. 😉

  3. Neil

    Josia, I don’t think scientists have hit a wall at all. Every year, there’s more and more amazing discoveries and as technology gets more sophisticated, so will science. I just think that scientists are people, too — and they are prone to cheating and backstabbing, just like the rest of us. One of my favorite books is “The Double Helix” by James D. Watson, a very human account of one of science’s greatest discoveries. Just because I was the worst scientist imaginable — interested in the exotic Hoshiko more than my bunsen burner — doesn’t mean I don’t respect science or scientists.

  4. Richard

    And remember friends, when translated into Japanese, “Kabbalah” is pronounced “cabaret,” and when translated into Yiddish, “Hoshiko” is pronounced “Oy Shiksa.”

  5. Emma Brown

    What a candid and relatable confession! It’s fascinating how your experience with Azotobacter vinelandii led to a surprising turn in your scientific project. Sometimes, even the best intentions can take an unexpected twist. Thanks for sharing this amusing story, and it’s clear that the pursuit of science can be full of surprises! ????????????

  6. Emma Brown

    What a candid and relatable confession! It’s fascinating how your experience with Azotobacter vinelandii led to a surprising turn in your scientific project. Sometimes, even the best intentions can take an unexpected twist. Thanks for sharing this amusing story, and it’s clear that the pursuit of science can be full of surprises! ????????????

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