Crimes in the name of science

Is there a line that scientists, in their quest for knowledge, should never cross? Can ethical transgressions, or even crimes, be justified if they are committed in the name of scientific progress or some other higher goal? Can we judge the behaviour and attitudes of people in the past based on our modern-day standards? In his new book, Sam Kean seeks answers to these and other complicated questions, but he does so in a supremely interesting and entertaining way. The history of scientific inquiry is full of remarkable and bizarre characters who, in their work, have crossed various taboos, become entangled with the underworld, and sometimes even ended up on the scaffold. How about a few good stories about pirates and slave owners with a penchant for science, grave robbers, a murderous anatomist, the electric chair, jealous palaeontologists, lobotomy, the atomic bomb and Russian spies, sexually transmitted diseases, a terrorist in the care of psychologists, and one particularly unsuccessful sex change operation? One thing is for certain: reading about the history of science definitely doesn't have to be boring!