|
Science Friday > Archives > 2002 > October > October 18, 2002:
Hour One: Mt Kilimanjaro
Ice Cores / Scientific Misconduct
The glaciers atop Mount Kilimanjaro can tell us much about Tanzania's
climate history, but they're melting. A study found that ice cores
taken from the glaciers chronicle over 11,000 years worth of climate
data, including severe droughts 8,300, 5,200 and 4,000 years ago.
However, the researchers also found that the glaciers trapping that
data may be on the decline. If current rates of melting continue,
they say, those ice caps could be gone by 2025. We'll talk about the
work and what it can tell us.
Then we'll turn our attention to the issue of scientific misconduct.
A committee convened by Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs has concluded
that one of its physicists falsified and fabricated data in several
journal articles. The scientist, Hendrik Schön published frequently
in prestegious journals such as Science and Nature, and quickly became
a stand-out researcher in the field of molecular electronics. Suspicion
of the work began after other teams were unable to duplicate Schön's
findings and astute readers noticed similarities between data graphs
published in different papers.
Schön has since been dismissed from Bell Labs, and his co-workers
have been cleared of wrong-doing. But does the system work? Call in
with your comments and questions at 1-800-989-8255, and share your
opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).
Guests:
Lonnie Thompson
Senior Research Scientist
Byrd Polar Research
Center
Professor, Geological
Sciences
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Paul McEuen
Professor, Physics
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Arthur Bienenstock
Chair, Ethics Committee, American Physical
Society
Former Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology
Policy
Professor, Materials
Science and Engineering
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Schön on Science Friday, Nov 16 2001
Bell
Labs announces results of inquiry into research misconduct
Lucent
- Research Review
PhysicsWeb
- Bell Labs physicist fired for misconduct
Wired
News: The Undoing of a Star Scientist
Salon.com
Technology | Big trouble in the world of "Big Physics"
NY
Times: Nanowires May Lead to Superfast Computer Chips (story based
on the disputed research)
Labs scientists usher in new era of molecular-scale electronics (Bell
Labs press release, now retracted)
Bell
Labs scientists build the world's smallest transistor, paving the
way for 'nanoelectronics' (Bell Labs press release, now retracted)
NY
Times Magazine: Phony Science
NY
Times: His Reputation Is Shredded. What About His Papers?
African
Ice Core Analysis Reveals Catastrophic Droughts, Shrinking Ice Fields
And Civilization Shifts
BPRC
Ice Core Group Home Page
Science
Friday February 23, 2001, Hour 1: Glaciers / Climate Change
Snows
of Kilimanjaro Melting, Say UMass Climatologists
CNN/TIME
- America's Best
EO
News: Southern Ice Caps Likely to Vanish in 15 Years - February 18,
2001
This segment produced by Karin Vergoth and Dorothy Lam
|