Faulty scientists.(Letter to the editor)

SIR: The statement in your March editorial that "the intellectual rigour of the sciences is increasingly absent from the humanities and social sciences" illustrates the modern tendency to exaggerate the efficacy of science simply because its successes are well publicised and measurable.

Recall, however, the numerous cases of fraud perpetrated by scientists in order to obtain increased research funding and/or support the approval of ethically questionable research. A notorious example of this is the ridiculous announcement a few months ago of a so-called "breakthrough" using stem cell research, which was allegedly about to lead to the cure of about five or six totally different diseases and which could have been taken seriously only by those with a blind trust in anything said by a scientist. This category clearly includes the editor of the Weekend Australian, who published it without comment on page 1. In fact, of course, the scientist in question was rapidly revealed to be not merely exaggerating his prospects of success (a not unknown practice when funding is in sight), but engaging in out-and-out fraud.

Recall, too, the fact that--despite huge research funding--the ...