Harvard Professor Goes On Leave After Evidence Of Misconduct Found

Harvard psychologist Marc Hauser will take a year-long leave from the school after a three-year investigation found proof of scientific misconduct in his lab.

The Boston Globe reports:

In a letter Hauser wrote this year to some Harvard colleagues, he described the inquiry as painful. The letter, which was shown to the Globe, said that his lab has been under investigation for three years by a Harvard committee, and that evidence of misconduct was found. He alluded to unspecified mistakes and oversights that he had made, and said he will be on leave for the upcoming academic year.

According to the Globe, Hauser also retracted a 2002 study he led that explored whether or not primates can learn rules.

A 2004 Harvard Crimson article has more on Hauser's research:

Hauser studies the human mind--its evolution, its processes, its judgments, its nuances--with the eyes and tools of a scientist. It is an integrative approach to an age-old question. If we share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees, thinkers have long wondered, what is it about humans that makes us truly different? In particular, Hauser asks, what about humans makes them moral?

Any details about Hauser's misconduct remain unknown.