Hey there, Shankar here. Since we first published this episode with Francesca Gino in 2018,

other researchers have raised concerns about the integrity of her work. In 2023, a group of

scientists publicly alleged that she had fabricated data in some of her studies. You can find

more information about their analysis at datacolada.org.

Francesca Gino has denied the allegations.

A number of her studies have been retracted by the journals that published them,

including a study about karaoke that is referenced in this episode.

This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.

A few years ago, social scientist Francesca Gino was browsing the shelves at her local bookstore.

She came across an unusual-looking book in the cooking section.

This recipe book, they look a little bit different, and the title said,

Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef in... this recipe book that looked a little bit different and the title said never trust a skinny Italian chef and being Italian it was very intrigued and as I flipped through the pages it became

clear that this was not your typical recipe book the dishes were playful quirky quirky, improbable.

Snails were paired with coffee sauce, veal tongue with charcoal powder.

The recipes had titles like How to Burn or Sardine.

And, oops, I dropped the lemon tart.

There were pictures of beautiful dishes.

Who could resist a dish called the

crunchy part of the lasagna? Now, if you know anything about Italians, first of all, we have

lots of rules when he comes to cooking. And second, we really cherish our traditional dishes,

especially because they've been passed on for generations.

But this chef, one of the most successful in the world, couldn't resist circling back to one

...