Fake Paintings Send Message of Caution

Scotland Yard recently conducted a private exhibition of forged paintings for art dealers. The objective was to send a warning to their select audience ...

Phantom Exemptions Show the Prevalence of Cheating

Freakonomics is a fascinating book by economist Steven Levitt that turns conventional wisdom on its head. On the subject of cheating, Levitt calls it ...

Coach Intimidates Opponents with Trickery

Eighty years ago, as Notre Dame was preparing to play the USC Trojans in college football, Fighting Irish coach Knute Rockne was aware that his opponent ...

"Cellphonies" Take Deception to a New Level

The cashier had already rung up Keri Wooster's items when she realized she didn't have her wallet. She dashed to her car and returned empty-handed ...

Lying Is Hard Work

Lying takes serious thought! That’s the conclusion of neuroscientists at Temple University. According to the Chicago Tribune, “With brain ...

Captain Refused to Acknowledge He Was Lost

On September 3, 1989, Varig Airlines Flight 254 was at Brazil's Maraba Airport preparing for takeoff. Under normal circumstances the hop to nearby ...

Humans with Lie Detecting Ability

Maureen O'Sullivan is a deception expert. She says that even though most people believe they can easily detect when someone is lying, they are wrong ...

Mislabeling Fish for Profit

When is red snapper not red snapper? When a DNA test declares it otherwise.

Species of fish like sheepshead, porgies, and grunts are similar to red snapper ...

Astronomer Edwin Hubble Lied to Enhance His Image

Few people have had as many natural endowments or achievements to feel proud of as Edwin Hubble, the astronomer for whom the Hubble Space Telescope was ...

A Case Study in Ruthless Ambition

For a picture of ruthless ambition, you could look no further than Richard Owen, the gifted scientist who coined the term dinosaur in 1841. Owen wrote ...