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Episode details

Radio 4,08 May 2023,28 mins

The Truth Police

Available for over a year

For years, science has had a dirty secret; research has been dogged by claims and instances of fraud, malpractice and outright incompetence. Suspicious-looking data sets, breakthrough results that can鈥檛 be replicated, eyebrow-raising statistical sleights of hand - science has been undergoing something of an existential crisis. And at the forefront of keeping science honest has been a bunch of outsiders, some of them with no formal academic positions, no salaried posts, double-checking the published claims of researchers and academics. Their work is not without controversy, especially when they go public; nevertheless, they鈥檝e achieved impressive results. Presenter Michael Blastland meets some of these 鈥楾ruth Police鈥�, discovering their methodology and their motives, as well as asking how scientific institutions are reacting to the deep issues they have brought out into the light. Presenter: Michael Blastland Producer: Nathan Gower

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