Comment by scottlocklin
7 years ago
I was at LBNL while the element 118 crisis happened. While ultimately it was figured out using VMS timestamps, well kept lab notebooks helped clear a lot of people from potential guilt.
Considering how bad the replication crisis is, if our society ever gets its shit together, many of these people should actually be convicted of fraud or at least removed from positions where they could commit further frauds.
Is there any good material to read about the forensics that went into the events surrounding the element 118 fraud? It sounds interesting.
Possible, but I doubt it would tell the actual story. I knew two of the coauthors in the Ninov paper (one of my closest friends) and two of the guys who did the computer forensics as it turned out, so I kind of had an inside view.
Anyway, use a paper notebook. It's worth the trouble for lots of reasons. Also use analog chart recorders if you can.