"Shifting Sands: Unsound Science and Unsafe Regulation" examines how irreproducible science affects select areas of government policy and regulation governed by different federal agencies. This first report on "PM[subscript 2.5] Regulation" focuses on irreproducible research in the field of environmental epidemiology, which…

During the past 30 years the technical report has developed into an important primary medium of communication in science and technology, to the extent that it is sometimes seen as a threat to primary journal publication. At the same time the (unclassified) report has been accused of not meeting the same standards of authority, scientific rigor,…

The author discusses some reasons for constraints that society places on science. Restraints on scientific inquiry and research are imposed when a scientific pursuit comes into conflict with widely held social values or when the pursuit is questioned in terms of "good science." These restraints reflect different views of the role of free inquiry…