The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "scientific research" ...
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Chimps: Life in the Lab
The series examines in detail the ethics and scientific necessity of medical research using chimpanzees. Focusing on a group of about 200 chimps in a federal facility in New Mexico, the stories showed the long-term mental and physical impact of constant medical experimentation of the chimpanzees, and it was revealed how scientists were moving toward a consensus that chimp experimentation was not scientifically necessary.
Tags: chimps; monkeys; animals; animal testing
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Weird Science: Women's Funding Network Sex Trafficking Study is Junk Science
The story examines a series of purportedly scientific studies conducted on behalf of an advocacy group that raises money to fight juvenile prostitution. A close look at the study reveals a dubious methodology that violates most of the key tenets of sociological research.
Tags: research; sociology; juvenile prostitution; advocacy group
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MIT Professor Sacked for Fabricating Data
The author's investigation uncovered a pattern of suspicious data in the work of a high-flying biology professor at MIT. The implicated research went back 8 years, involved laboratories at three of the top research institutions in the United States and millions of dollars in federal research money.
Tags: science; scientific research; scientific fraud; research laboratories; immunology; research institutions; Dr. Van Parijs
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Antiperspirants and the Breast Cancer Question
This story investigates the potential link between antiperspirants and breast cancer and the industry's and FDA's failure to acknowledge the possibility of a relationship. It publicizes scientific research that casts doubt on the American Cancer Society's certainty that any link between antiperspirants and breast cancer is a myth.
Tags: breast cancer; cancer; antiperspirants; American Cancer Society; FDA
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UNC Ventures
This group of UNC students call attention to a venture of hundreds of millions of dollars that the university invested into scientific research and following business developments. The group found that perhaps the time and money spent on these projects was not worth the investment.
Tags: UNC; University of North Carolina; technology; research; higher education; investment
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Are these diet pills deadly?
Glamour reports on a decade-long lack of action by the FDA against the drug ephedra. The writers charge the drug industry with stalling the government on both state and federal levels. The story also exposes the ways in which some manufacturers purportedly proved their products were safe and effective, documenting how little research had ever been done on ephedra-based supplements and debunking the single study most often cited by the industry. The story also talks about how marketers continued to use flimsy evidence to make claims about their products efficacy....claims that were unanimously voted to be false and scientifically impossible by the Federal Trade Commission.
Tags: ephedra; diet supplements; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; ephedra-based supplements; Federal Trade Commission; Rand Corporation; Health and Human Services; herbal supplement; FDA; National Football League; National Collegiate Athletic Association; American Medical Association; consumer-advocacy groups; Xenadrine; Hydroxycut; Metabolife International Inc.; Metabolife; fen-phen; Dietary supplement Health and Education Act; DSHEA; Public Citizen's Health Research Group; Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders; diet pill; Ephedra Education Council; AER; adverse event report; Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
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The Price of Research
Doing a broader take on the "frog story", the Chronicle investigates the story of corporate influence in conflict with the values of scientific integrity and independent academic research. The "frog story" goes thus : After being hired by a pesticide manufacturer to study the effect of atrazine on frogs, Tyron Hayes - a Univ. of California professor- began to suspect that the company was trying to suppress his findings because they might threaten the re-approval of the product by the Environmental Protection Agency. After Mr. Hayes broke with his research sponsor, Syngenta, other academic scientists who continued to work for the company attacked his work. Allies of the company from the agriculture industry and critics of the environmental regulation also moved to discredit him.
Tags: herbicide
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Science Casts Doubt on FBI Bullet Evidence
This story investigated the validity of a forensics technique, comparative lead bullet analysis, that has been used by the FBI crime laboratory since the late 1960's. FBI scientists determine the trace metal profile of a lead slug and then compare bullet profiles. They found there was not a solid scientific backing for this technique and that new research indicates that the conclusions the FBI examiners drew about relationships between were, at best, unwarranted. There was never evidence to conclude that the fact that two bullets share similar trace element profiles means they are in some way connected, and there is now evidence against that conclusion. This is important because the technique is commonly used in murder cases where traditional ballistics cannot be used and, often where there is little evidence.
Tags: forensics; FBI; crime lab; lead bullet analysis; FBI scientists; lead slug; FBI examiners; American Chemical Society; National Academy of Sciences; bullet lead; fingerprint analysis; Iowa State University; National Research Council; Middlesex County Superior Court; crime scene; FBI testimony; National Research Council; rifling-mark analysis
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Last Gasp
The Fresno Bee reports on increasing smog in the San Joaquin Valley. Some of the major findings are that as Los Angeles air gets cleaner, the Valley's smog problem is worsening; state and federal officials have failed to pay attention to the pollution in the area; polluting vehicles and diesel engines are common in the Valley; agricultural businesses are exempted from air pollution permits; small-particle pollution, connected to high death rates nationwide, presents an even bigger problem than the smog.
Tags: smog; air quality; air pollution; San Joaquin Valley; small-particle pollution; diesel engines; agricultural pollution; EPA; environment; wildlife; health; asthma; children; ozone cleanup; scientific research; automobile emissions; cars; database mapping project
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Whose Body Is It Anyway?
CBS News explores the "controversial practice of patenting human genes," and warns that it can possibly have adverse effects on the development of health care, as researchers do not share scientific knowledge anymore. The report tells the stories of two homosexuals who felt like "walking miracles" because their AIDS tests continued to come up negative. They offered themselves for research and contributed to a genetic discovery that explained their immunity. Now Steve Crohn and Eric Fuchs insist on becoming co-owners of the rare gene that has been patented by the research organization, CBS reports. The segment extensively quotes Lori Andrews, adviser to Congress on biotech issues, whose point is that "greed has become a cultural value in health care."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Myriad Genetics; Human Genome Project; Aaaron Diamond AIDS Research Center; science; trade; patents