The Dog Ate My Brain

Northern Elephant Seal, San Simeon, California Mike Baird

Scientists who plagiarize papers or make up data are sort of like teachers who sleep with their students -- there's just no good excuse, but that doesn't keep the guilty parties from trying to plead their case with really dumb reasoning.

Also in today's links: using printers to create bones, Ecstasy to treat soldiers, and Facebook to get attention for elephant seals.

• A researcher has created an exact replica of his thumb bones using a "3D bone printer" that layers small amounts of natural structural materials on top of each other until a 3D object emerges.
• Ecstasy is back, minus the glow sticks, wide-legged pants and annoying teenagers. A clinical trial is exploring the use of the drug MDMA to treat veterans for PTSD. The first round produced "promising" results, although it apparently had just two participants. It sounds like the second round has 21 patients.
• On Facebook, you could be friends with Stelephant Colbert, who's online as part of a program to raise public awareness of the elephant seals of Año Nuevo State Reserve in California. The grad student behind this effort explains that translating Colbert's life into Facebook categories can be tricky, as "harem" isn't an option under relationship status.
• The Secret Science Club -- which meets in Brooklyn for a young crowd to hear lectures, hold discussions, and socialize -- is not so secret anymore.