When Science Goes Wrong

Science is the worldâ s new religion â but what happens when it goes terribly wrong? An innocent young black man is convicted of rape and sent to prison for 25 years on the basis of â infallibleâ DNA evidenceâ ¦ which turns out to be completely bogus. A long-distance runnerâ s Parkinsonâ s Disease is treated with revolutionary neuroscience techniquesâ ¦ which leave a foetus growing in his brain. A study into why children stutter ends up ruining their lives when scientists deliberately introduce speech impedimentsâ ¦ and, to their horror, find they are permanent. British neuroscientist Simon LeVay explains how elementary mistakes, miscaculations and simple bad science sometimes lead to death (when anthrax spores escape from a lab, or a nuclear plant explodes) and other times to expensive farce (when a tiny data error sends a space probe hurtling to oblivion, or when an 'impossible' hurricane wreaks havoc across the UK). Baboons on ecstasy, death-by-volcano and the failure of gene therapy to perform as advertised also feature in this authoritative and entertaining study of the limitations of science.