Undignified Science

There’s an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. Here’s a related bit of sadomasochistic wisdom: No research finding, good or not, goes public without eventually yielding unforeseen consequences that leave researchers either shaking their heads or spinning in their graves. This investigational-degenerative process has a long, colorful history. Alexander Graham Bell would have rung up his lawyer in 1876 if told that his cherished telephone would morph into a portable device for pestering innocent bystanders with the owner’s private reports on what subway station he or she is entering.