The story about the hacked emails and forged data at the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit continues to unfold, and even The Guardian starts to look interested
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scientists become very attached to their theories, and are reluctant to give them up, even if the evidence to support them is not there.
as one works in a University I can confirm how true this is... sadly.
Also how hard funding is to get if your "actual" research isn't sexy or fashionable (in so much as research is) or if it's deemed too politically awkward.
Being "off-message" can be very bad for your career, as a certain Professor David Nutt can attest. Professor Nutt* was drafted in by our fine Government as an advisor on drugs. Prof Nutt did his research like a good scientist, and informed the Government, quite truthfully, that Ecstasy was less dangerous than horse-riding. This, as you can imagine, was not at all what the Government wanted to hear. Professor Nutt was subsequently relieved of his position. For telling the truth. Ah, politicians, when will you ever evolve into vertebrates...
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as one works in a University I can confirm how true this is... sadly.
Also how hard funding is to get if your "actual" research isn't sexy or fashionable (in so much as research is) or if it's deemed too politically awkward.
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* best name for a Nutty Professor EVAR!!
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