The Big Bang Theory made science funny without trying too hard. It gave us a bunch of oddball geniuses who argued about string theory one minute and wore superhero costumes the next.

Lately, there have been many headlines about scientific fraud and journal article retractions. If this trend continues, it represents a serious threat to public trust in science.

"The singularity is the most mysterious and problematic part of a black hole. It's where our concepts of space and time ...