China's self-appointed science fraud buster was assaulted yesterday afternoon in Beijing. Fang Shimin, better known by his pen name Fang Zhouzhi, has used his Web site New Threads and his microblog to expose scientific misconduct, debunk crackpot medicine and pseudoscience claims, and catch cheaters who falsify resumes with fake degrees and nonexistent publications.
Fang has been slammed with libel suits contesting his often-acerbic exposés. But yesterday's attack—if it was linked to his antifraud crusade—takes things to a new level. According to Fang' ……