Lili's scientific thought for the day

I've just been watching a discussion about science and politics on The Drum, between Australian physicist and Nobelist Prof. Brian Schmidt and some bright and charismatic commentators. It was just one nice cliche after another - no discussion of the areas of science that are slow-motion train-smashes, such as psychiatric science under the reign of "big pharma", or the many worrying cracks in the foundations of neuroscience and science journalism which are becoming impossible to ignore in the wake of scandals surrounding Prof. Marc Hauser and Jonah Lehrer. Physics is a safe area of science to venture into if you aren't up to facing any controversy, so Prof. Schmidt was a top choice as an Australian representative of the World of Science on our always tame and neat public broadcaster, the ABC. I'm really not sure why I bother to turn the set on.