Corrupt Cultures: Cheating in Science and Society

This book is concerned with cheating in Science and the harm that it does, concentrating on three disasters in cell culture, which caused international concern and personal tragedy for the perpetrators. There is an overview of plant, animal and human cheating, providing a background to the focus on Science. This demands a special form of truth in that claims need to be substantiated by repetition in independent laboratories to confirm that the claims work. The nature of originality is examined in art and Science. An attempt has been made to determine the background and motives for cheating in Science in the certain knowledge that it will be unmasked leading to scandal. Advice is given to the young Scientist and suggestions have been made as to how fraud in Science could be reduced by more regulated supervision. There is a need to revise the regulations and assessment of claims of originality and the whole review process of journals to avoid publishing fake data. This text is unusual in focusing on three well-documented cases. The data should not have been published in high impact journals if more rigorous review had been made. Journals should require independent repetition of claims that seem to be "too good to be true". This little book should be of considerable interest to young scientists, historians of science and editors of scientific journals. The general reader might find it fascinating to learn how science works or does not work.