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Dr E - I agree that 'guilty' might be a rather harsh term and the guy has come clean after the fact. But, if he accepts the position of primary author on the paper(s) then he has a responsibility to have been involved in the project if only to vet the research undertaken. Too often people listed as authors have done little if anything to produce the paper or its content. I do not think it is enough to be the head of the department. Such a person with no involvement in the actual research or internal review of the research before publication should only receive an acknowledgement rather than be listed as an author. There are too many 'et als' these days.
I agree that it is very hard to get away with significant cheating in a seminal field cf the 'cold fusion' debacle.
Bunyip my little mutant - Like the good Dr E I feel a little more comfortable with genetically manipulated veggies than with food that has been hormonally enhanced or treated with antibiotics. feel a little more uncomfortable with genetically altered animals. Perhaps we will end up with a cow like the one in 'The restaurant at the end of the universe' which comes to your table and offers its best parts for your gustatory pleasure. Finally the concept of human genetic manipulation raises ethical issues which we have only just begun to contemplate.
By the way - grow your own? What?
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