Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth

by Stuart Ritchie

the way OPERA handled its unexpected result was close to exemplary. The physicists drew attention to a strange finding that needed replication while avoiding hype and expressing all the necessary reservations, giving the world a valuable lesson in scientific uncertainty. The initial flurry of reports was followed by further coverage of the story’s resolution.127 Is it too far-fetched to suggest that, if the OPERA scientists had been psychologists instead of physicists, they’d have skipped over the double-checking of their results and rushed to sign book deals for titles like Breaking Barriers: What the Speedy Neutrino Means for Your Self-Confidence and Superluminary: The New Science of Subatomic Success? It might be unfair to hold up the OPERA story as an example of press releases done well, since it involved an exceptionally unusual event – the apparent breaking of the laws of physics – that would have attracted ample attention regardless of any hyping. But it still serves as an example of how scientists can inject caution into the news cycle right from the very beginning, going directly against the all-too-prevalent instinct to overplay findings. Imagine if all press releases – and all scientific papers, for that matter – came with built-in hype-busting statements reminding readers that the findings are tentative, and warning against taking them too far. That, of course, would be to go against the way the scientific system is organised. Even though caution, restraint and...