[anonymouskimmer]

Not to mention all of the students who end up dropping out or having to take Masters instead of PhDs because their theses built on the fraud fail.

Just like we should place failed results (when due to wrong science, not bad skills) on an equal level with successful results, we should place failed thesis projects on equal level with successful thesis projects as having added to the general knowledge (again, when the failed projects demonstrate a falsified theory, not when they fail due to mistakes or inability on the part of the student).

[stanford_labrat]

Great comment. I would encourage all PhD students to bomb-proof their thesis topic and build it on as solid a foundation as possible. I chose perhaps a less flashy, relevant, and lucrative topic for this reason but I would rather finish than be staring down the barrel of a "my entire work has been based off a lie"...

[nerdyadventurer]

How do we know that a paper was based on false data?

[anonymouskimmer]

I think the point is to pick a grad lab extending a well-trod path, or at least well replicated path, not something relatively new and flashy.