This story about NIH scientists who received money from drug companies improperly, but who faced no serious consequences, is illuminating. Science is becoming, and in some cases, has already become a mere special interest grubbing for public money, political advantage, and control of public policy. And, it uses all of the tools of the political world; spin, deception, personal attack, dissembling, the power of big money to buy laws, etc., to achieve its objectives.
Meanwhile, at the university level, science academics are often in bed with big business–corrupting the ideal of the university as a place dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
All of this is corroding the very soul of science and sapping it of its once well deserved presumption of credibility. The media continues to pretend that “the scientists” are objective and dispassionate. But to an increasing degree, this is no longer so. In the end, that isn’t good for science or society.