The case of Purdue’s Rusi Taleyarkhan, cleared by the university of charges of misconduct in a murky process, has taken another turn. Congress is getting involved, with the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee requesting more details from the university.
On the one hand, I’m not enthusiastic about Congress getting into this (aren’t there some drug-using professional athletes that they could investigate?), but then again, Purdue brought it on themselves with their ridiculously cryptic statements about the case. If they hadn’t acted like they were covering something up, this all would’ve gone away months ago.
One ScienceBlogs sort of note:
“There’s enough in published reports and in talk in the scientific community to raise questions,” said Representative Brad Miller, the North Carolina Democrat who is chairman of the subcommittee.
In view of the billions of dollars the government spends on scientific research, Mr. Miller said, “we need to know we are getting valid sound research and not research that is being manipulated.”
Insert Chris Mooney rant about how “sound science” is a Republican code phrase, and nobody left of Limbaugh should ever use it.