The Research

This year’s controversial news included unethical behavior among politicians, a murder, and multiple accusations of gender discrimination and sexual harassment, in addition to the usual spate of research misconduct. E ach year, amidst the technological breakthroughs and pioneering research studies that emerge from the scientific community, a few bad eggs warrant headlines of their own. Below is  The Scientist ’s roundup of some of the most scandalous happenings in the life science over the past 12 months. Political turmoil FLICKR,  MARK TAYLOR ,  ALEX HANSON  Among the developments were a few personnel kerfuffles. In February, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was confirmed by the Senate. Ever since his nomination the previous November, Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon and congressman (R-GA), was criticized for alleged conflicts of interest,  his vocal opposition...

How a new administration in the U.S. affected scientists around the world throughout 2017 KERRY GRENS S cience policy and other governmental actions that affect science, while barely getting a mention during the presidential debates of 2016, have been catapulted to the front page this year. On April 22, thousands of scientists and science supporters took to the streets for the first ever March for Science. For many, it was their introduction to advocacy, fueled by concerns over the newly inaugurated president’s attitude toward research—data on climate change, in particular. Since then, a number of policy moves have affected the domestic and global scientific community. Here’s our roundup of 2017. Travel and immigration A number of government policies didn’t target research specifically, but affected scientists nonetheless. The federal travel ban blocking residents of several Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. left scientists uncertain about ...

A Northwestern University plague researcher has been charged with a brutal murder. Here’s what we know about him. WIKIMEDIA,  TONY WEBSTER O n July 27,  The  Chicago Tribune   reported that there was an arrest warrant issued for  Wyndham Lathem , a microbiologist at Northwestern University. The crime Lathem would later be charged with was brutal—26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, whose body was found in Lathem’s apartment, had been stabbed dozens of times. But Lathem was nowhere to be found. As events unfolded over the following days, it became clear he had fled from Chicago to California with a second suspect, 56-year-old Andrew Warren, a University of Oxford employee from the United Kingdom visiting the states. Along the way, the two men apparently made an anonymous $1,000 donation in Cornell-Duranleau’s name to the Lake Geneva Public Library and another donation for $5,610 to a Chicago health center. Lathem had also sent a video to fa...