Charles Piller

I felt like if you didn't have at least a PhD to start with, it was just totally indecipherable.

On the other hand...

Everybody listening to this has one, a brain that is.

And so I do wonder if you as an expert have any advice for how to think about the brain and its centrality to who we are as individuals, but especially how we should think about brain science as a topic that we should all be a little bit invested in somehow.

So, Matthew, when you look back at your career, it seems from my perspective that you're doing well.

You're at a great research university, Vanderbilt, but you've also devoted a lot of time and attention to this whistleblower function.

How would you describe overall your standing in the field as a result of the whistleblower function?

Do you feel you've been somewhat ostracized, mostly celebrated?

Yeah.

Does anyone in your family ever say to you, you know, Matthew, it'd be so much easier if you just stick to your knitting, do your research, shut up a little bit?

I'd like to thank Matthew Schrag and Charles Piller for putting their trust in us and telling you this story.

I do wish that some of the scientists whose work they had exposed had also been willing to talk, but I guess I can see why they chose not to.

The book that Charles Piller wrote is called Doctored Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's.

If you want to let us know what you thought of this episode, our email is radio at Freakonomics.com.

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Coming up next time on the show, we go inside one of the most essential software companies that you have probably never heard of.

Judy Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which manages the vast majority of electronic health records in the United States.

She doesn't do a lot of interviews, but she agreed to this one.

And we cover a lot of ground, including why Epic has never gone public and never will.

That's next time on the show.