Rigor Mortis with Richard Harris

NPR’s distinguished science writer, Richard Harris, joins the podcast to discuss his latest book, Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope and Wastes Billions.

We delve into the specifics about the broken culture that exists in biomedical research: the perverse incentives to publish rubbish, the reproducibility crisis in published research, and the lousy science that is the product of flawed research design and analysis. The most disturbing symptom of this dysfunctional culture is the massive increase in retracted papers and outright fraud.

Richard exposes the broken culture in biomedical research, and shares what some of the leaders in that field are doing to fix it.

About Our Guest

Richard Harris has been a reporter for NPR on a wide range of topics in science, medicine and the environment since 1986. He is a recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s Presidential Citation for Science and Society, the National Academy of Sciences Communication Award, and was a Peabody Award winner for his investigative reporting on the tobacco industry. He is also a three-time winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award. He is the author of Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope and Wastes Billions.