This is now so routine that it hardly surprises anymore. No matter how seemingly distinguished and top level the lab, there are still hundreds of papers that need to be retracted or altered as a result of just one random guy reading papers very carefully. Imagine if there were more such detectives - we’d drown in an ocean of exposed fraud.
Here, I can state unequivocally, that I repeatedly come across data and claims in studies that seem extremely puzzling and contradictory. In the past I just used to chalk it up to my probably misunderstanding something. But nowadays, I more and more frequently just back away from odd papers thinking “yeah, I’m gonna need to see this replicated, because it just isn’t believable”.
Vast sums of money are wasted on fraudulent grant applications at the highest levels, including the NIH. Real progress seems slow, because we are drowning in fraud. Depressing. Ask yourself again: how many studies we post on this site in great excitement, and often even base healthcare decisions on, are in fact completely fraudulent - and how would you know when it is legitimate, if even the leading journals and best labs are riddled with fraud? I keep saying - there need to be personal legal consequences and prison time for research fraud, just the same as any other fraud also designed to obtain illicit money. We as a society either clean up science, or face a complete breakdown of trust and collapse of the whole scientific enterprise.
Amateur sleuth earns £2m reward for exposing research fraud