Should science be nicer to business?

A bunch of academics chewed through the text of 29 undergraduate biology books and came up with a curious conclusion: Science takes a dim view of business.

The analysis, from the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University, found that references to the business world were significantly more likely to be negative than positive, including anecdotes about dangerous drugs, unethical executives, and environmental degradation.

It might seem odd to expect a biology textbook to extol the virtues of, say, working at GlaxoSmithKline. But the authors say their point is “not that malfeasance, fraud, and unsustainable practices do not exist in industry, but that the number of references to such behaviors has the potential to undermine the objectives of STEM learning.”

If business-minded students conclude that there’s no place for them in science, the paper argues, they might dump the field altogether.