Shenanigans
Research. From an outsider's presepctive it seems rather dull- mixing smoking chemicals in a dark room and observing how they react is not most people's idea of a job. But for the lucky few that can call themselves scientists, research is a gratifying occupation in which new knowledge is discovered and used to help others. Whether it be finding the compound to stop runny noses or finding life on another planet, getting positive data and good results can make scientists the happiest people in the world. Except when that doesn't happen. If I follow a protocol to the letter, make sure everything is done correctly and the data generated is not intelligible, I get rather frustrated. All that time and effort and love got mixed into an experiment that didn't work. But those little shenanigans don't get to me too much because I'm just an amateur in the science community. I can only imagine how scientists whose jobs depend on that same protocol, among others, must feel. Because sometimes, consistently poor scientific performance can have a negative impact on a career. And that pressure to perform sometimes gets to be too much for some people. They get the notion that maybe the decimal place in a PCR readout can be moved over one digit or a few flourescent cells can magically appear in an microscopic image. And at that point a shenanigan can become bad news. Falsifying data is one of the worst possible actions a scientist can make- it destroys all credibilty and respect. No matter what the incentive, whether it be trying to save a job or make a historic "discovery", publishing fudged results is a shortcut on the road to failure. And those who disrespect the efforts of their peers by cheating need to find something else to make a living.
