This is the Guardian.

Hi, Ian here.

The Science Weekly team are taking a break,

so we're revisiting a few of our favorite episodes from the year so far.

Back in February, a science blogger called Sholto David made headlines around the world

when he spotted mistakes in research from a leading US Cancer Institute.

But it turns out his research was just the tip of the iceberg.

A record 10,000 science papers were attracted in 2023, so we wanted to find out what's going on.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

Sholto David didn't plan on becoming a scientific sleuth.

I generally think of myself as something of a scientist, although not a very good one.

I did my PhD and not a very good one.

I did my PhD and cell and molecular biology at Newcastle University.

But an obscure hobby has taken him down an unexpected rabbit hole.

As well as my full-time jobs in industry, I've been writing about errors in the scientific

literature. For years, Sholto has quietly and thanklessly been flagging thousands of flawed research papers.

But recently he found himself centre stage and the subject to profiles in nature, the guardian,

and even the New York Times.

I'm a bit uncomfortable about the attention because I don't want to limit what I say.

I don't want to stop sending rude emails.

I don't want to stop writing rude blog posts.

While searching for mistakes in published papers from his home in Wales,

...