Scientists are people and therefore subject to the same jealousies, rivalries, selfishness and emotional roller coasters that any one of us can experience in life. Higher education does not necessarily make one immune to mistakes or character flaws. In fact, I’ve seen people where the opposite occurred - they became arrogant in their “knowledge.”

I don’t disdain science or the scientific method, and generally most scientists are decent folks just trying to figure out how things tick. But many of the public are just not aware of the internecine warfare and throat cutting that occurs in scientific circles. The public tends to think that science has all the answers and leading scientists are all on the same page of the issues. Scientists are people, not gods.