It's nice to see all of the recent positive press coverage on Charles Darwin. It is refreshing because it often seems that the scientific press is more interested in publicizing the bad behavior of scientists rather than our accomplishments. In part, I am offended by the public airing of our "dirty laundry," but I also find myself drawn to stories about scientists behaving badly. I am not so interested in the miscreants themselves. Rather, I am fascinated by our reaction to them.
Although we fear that the public airing of science's dirty laundry will damage the public perception of scientists, surveys do not support that. Nearly 90% of respondents of a National Science Foundation survey in 2001 agreed that "scientific researchers are dedicated people who work for the good of humanity." All fields of human endeavor, including science, have aberrant individuals, and the general public seems to ...
