Axen, Axen (3) and Hawks

John Hawks put up this excellent quote in his post James Randi on scientists

From Randi, J. 1988. "The detection of fraud and fakery." Cell Mol Life Sci 44:287-288:

"Scientists are very easily deceived. They think logically, extrapolate possibilities from evidence presented, assume (with a good probability of being right) certain aspects of the observed data and draw upon their past experience in coming to decisions. This is to say that they act very much as all humans do, struggling with sensory input to derive new facts from it. But scientists do this with a certain authority and certainty born of their training and discipline. They are thus excellent candidates for being flimflammed by a clever operator who is aware of the fact that scientists seldom bring the human element into account."

Axen and Axen do not do either fraud or fakery. Their data are real. But the human element is essential.

Peter