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For years, science has had a dirty secret; research has been dogged by claims and instances of fraud, malpractice and outright incompetence. Suspicious-looking data sets, breakthrough results that can\u2019t be replicated, eyebrow-raising statistical sleights of hand - science has been undergoing something of an existential crisis.

And at the forefront of keeping science honest has been a bunch of outsiders, some of them with no formal academic positions, no salaried posts, double-checking the published claims of researchers and academics. Their work is not without controversy, especially when they go public; nevertheless, they\u2019ve achieved impressive results.

Presenter Michael Blastland meets some of these \u2018Truth Police\u2019, discovering their methodology and their motives, as well as asking how scientific institutions are reacting to the deep issues they have brought out into the light.

Presenter: Michael Blastland \nProducer: Nathan Gower