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key endocast next to LB1's? This was not a trivial point. If the endocast
existed, we obviously needed to include it in the study of microcephalic
endocasts that we were gearing up to do. On November 23, 2005, I
e-mailed Weber (copying his colleagues) the following message:
Dear Dr. Weber,
My team and I would very much like to know the repository of the 19
microcephalics that you reported on in your recent technical comment
in
Science.
In particular, could you please tell us the specimen number of
the endocast with the cranial capacity of 415 cc that you focused on in
your comment, and whom we could contact for permission to access this
specimen. I would also appreciate learning which of the images in your
technical comment were of this specimen. Thank you very much, and
I'll look forward to your reply.
Cordially, Dean Falk
Dr. Czarnetzki responded to my e-mail with a message that was friendly
but evasive. He said that some of my questions had been answered by a
particular journalist at
Science
and that I should contact her. (I did, and
she did not have the information.) He also said that his team was pre-
paring a more comprehensive publication that would include all of the
data and specimens but that it would take some time. (Such a paper has
not appeared during the nearly six years since I received the message.)
It is one thing to decline to share original data that are still being ana-
lyzed by the scientists who collected them; it is quite another to withhold
information about the location and identification numbers of published
specimens. Because we were beginning our own study of microcephalic
endocasts, it was imperative that we attempt to verify the claims about
this particular specimen. (Indeed, attempts to replicate or verify studies
are an inherent part of the scientific method.)
We contacted a senior editor at
Science
for help, and he agreed to take
the matter up with the authors of the
Science
comment. He asked if there
was any other information we would like him to request while he was at
it. We requested confirmation of where the 19 microcephalic specimens
