RECENT POSTS

Real-life mystery plot for new book?

Real-life mystery plot for new book?
April-2017 (by Toviyah and Jana Rieger)

Mystery week is coming up! As part of its celebration, GoodReads asked it's mystery authors the following question: What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book? Here's how Toviyah and I answered that question. (Warning! - Not responsible for the increase in your electricity bill after you read this)

On the University of Alberta campus, the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine is in a b...

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Book Review by Juicy Green Mom

Book Review by Juicy Green Mom
April-2017 (by Judith Lam Tang)

I love this message... "We all face times in our lives when crisis is king. When survival, whether physical, mental, or emotional, moves out of reach, and desperation takes over. These are the times when our true humanity emerges."  Check out the full review!

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Just Poking Around

Just Poking Around
March-2017 (by Jana Rieger)

Electronic Medical Records. They hold quite a bit of information about all of us. Have you ever wondered who can look at them and for what purpose? Health care workers, such as your doctor, can access them in order to treat you. Your records could also be requested in relationship to a subpoena, warrant, or court order without your consent. Beyond that, no one should be looking at them without your explicit consent to do so. That’s how it rolls in Alberta, anyhow. It would seem to be the same in other provinces in Canada, like Ontario. Just this past week, a student was “
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I Take That Back

I Take That Back
February-2017 (by Jana Rieger)

It’s the thing that every scientist hopes is never associated with their name – a journal article retraction. In A Course in Deception, Dr. Mackenzie Smith gets hauled into her department chair’s office. There’s been a complaint, and Mackenzie may be facing this very thing. But why? What could she have done to deserve this? Read on…

In an article published in Nature in 2011, Richard Van Noorden explored “The Trouble with Retractions”. In the article, he posed some very thought-provoking issues related to article retractions, including the...

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Monetary Motivations

Monetary Motivations
February-2017 (by Jana Rieger)

Why do people commit fraud? If we’re speaking generally, the desire to gain a fortune is one likely answer. Take for instance the recently uncovered $8M fraud scheme, dubbed Project Fellowship, in Ontario.

But when it comes to scientific fraud, how is fortune a motivation? In A Course in Deception, the monetary motivations are, shall we say, subtle. But that’s fiction. What about fact?

Let’s look at the case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the researcher who published false data about childhood vaccines and the development of autism. In a British Medical Journ...

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In Students We Trust

In Students We Trust
February-2017 (by Jana Rieger)

If I were to ask my colleagues what they thought was the number one ‘research’ crime committed by graduate students, I’d bet their answer would be plagiarism. It’s a formidable word – one that students are reminded of at the beginning of the first class of every new semester. As a graduate student supervisor, I’ve seen glimpses of students’ plagiarism in my career – beautifully-written sentences amongst patchy jagged verse.  

But in research for my novel, A Course in Deception, I learned that there may be a different issue that ...

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In Science We Trust

In Science We Trust
February-2017 (by Jana Rieger)


Did your mother ever tell you not to believe everything that you read? It might have been sage advice. With the ability to publish just about anything on the internet, and the current ‘fake news’ debacle, we should be very cautious about believing what’s out there. 


But what about real science – the kind that has been carried out in a controlled setting and been scrutinized by a scientist’s peers before publication? The kind that Dr. Mackenzie Smith carries out in A Course in Deception. Should you believe everything that scientist...

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The Real Diesel

The Real Diesel
January-2017 (by by Jana Rieger)

Dogs. We love them. They get into our hearts, even when they've gotten into something they shouldn't have - like our purse (and chewed our new sunglasses). There's nothing quite like the feeling of our fur-friends curling up beside us when we're reading, or when they lay on our feet while we contemplate life, or when they slap their paw on our laptop when we've been working a little too long. 

In A Course in Deception, Diesel is Mackenzie's loveable bushy-eyebrowed, stubby-tailed dog. Diesel is the only character in the book that was based on a real be...

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Scientists under Pressure

Scientists under Pressure
February-2017 (by by Jana Rieger)

It seems that the topic of research misconduct is popping up all over the media these days. And it's not related to some unknown scientist working in an obscure basement laboratory. No, the media is filled with high-profile cases of research fraud committed by 'successful' researchers. The crème de la crème. The thought of a scientific great being accused and proven guilty of research misconduct leaves us all feeling a little uncomfortable; no one expects that scientists will lie. But they do. The question is why. 

In my newly-finished novel, A Cours...

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