the Marc Hauser case

The latest of several NY Times stories on Marc Hauser, the highly visible Harvard resarcher accused of scientific misconduct (and possibly outright fabrication of data):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/science/28harvard.html?hpw

(Sorry, can’t put the link directly in the text on this machine.)

The funny thing about plagiarism cases by faculty is this… Of the small number cases with which I am personally familiar from over the years, the people involved didn’t need to do it. They weren’t marginal people trying to clear a minimal academic hurdle by cheating. They were already pretty successful (or in Hauser’s case extremely so), and simply couldn’t stop themselves from faking just a bit more.