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Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has used his subpoena powers liberally to seek the e-mails of climate scientists in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Even before getting the evidence he claims he needs, however, Smith has accused NOAA of scientific dishonesty.

Rep. Smith and the 12 other Republicans on the committee have now turned their sights on a new target—actually, on 25 new targets. On Wednesday, letters were sent to 17 state attorneys general and eight environmental groups demanding e-mails and documents related to recent efforts to investigate Exxon Mobil’s past campaigns to downplay climate change.

Stories by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times described climate research by Exxon scientists in the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, Exxon’s own scientists apparently made it clear to leadership that climate change was a threat. Building on those revelations, momentum has been building behind the accusation that Exxon intentionally mislead its shareholders (and the public) about climate change, both via its own company statements and through the funding of contrarian think tanks. Several attorneys general are now pursuing investigations of consumer and securities fraud akin to the investigations that damaged the tobacco industry in the 1990s—it's too early to know if these accusations have similar merits.

Some of the problems within science have been getting much more public attention recently. Psychology’s replication crisis has gained deserved notoriety, but the social sciences are far from alone, with pharmaceutical science being plagued by the same problems.

These issues are the product of a number of underlying problems. A study published recently in the journal PLOS Biology presents evidence showing that a very cheap solution could help to patch up one of them: the sharing of data that underlies published research. It's a solution that isn't out of place in a video game—all it takes is a digital badge or two to encourage researchers to be more transparent.

It’s clear that although the scientific method is still the best tool we have at our disposal, there are some situations where it desperately needs sharpening. One thing that has dulled the tool is the damaging incentives often faced by scientists. They’re under pressure to publish exciting, positive results in order to keep their jobs and be promoted, which can push some people to do awful things like fake data. But on a more mundane level, the pressure often means that only the most exciting, whizzbang studies see the light of day.

The Minecraft community is one of the most video-centric gaming groups online, with hundreds of thousands of players routinely streaming and sharing gameplay and mods through YouTube and Twitch without issue. Nintendo, on the other hand, is one of the most restrictive game publishers when it comes to video, with a history of taking videos of its games offline and threatening to shut down livestreamed tournaments. It has also had problems sharing ad revenue with video creators.

When those two sides effectively merged through the recently released "Super Mario Mash-Up Pack" for the Wii U version of Minecraft, problems were bound to arise. And arisen they have, with a number of YouTubers publicly complaining about Nintendo making copyright claims on their Minecraft videos.

The issue appears to stem from the game's use of Super Mario 64 music, which is actually included as part of the Mash-Up Pack but still triggers a copyright match with the original Nintendo 64 game. One memorable video response from a Nintendo streamer urges the company to "stop trippin'" about the Minecraft videos. "It's like Nintendo doesn't want us to play their games. Don't play them because we don't want you to show them on YouTube. We don't want anyone else to see how great and wonderful the gameplay is..." the streamer says in his best mock Nintendo imitation.

Revolutions are tricky. Ostensibly, they are the end result of the frustration and desperation of a group of people. They are upwellings, the last recourse of a downtrodden nation. In practice, though, they’re often among the most brutal sorts of wars. While oppressors stand as the intended targets, the collapse of a reigning social order and the construction of a new one never comes without moral compromise and collateral damage.

Homefront: The Revolution captures the compromised morals dead-on. Given the haphazard execution of the rest of the game, though, I’m not sure that’s intentional.

A muddy revolution

In this guerrilla war, you play as Ethan Brady, a recent recruit for yet another American Revolution. This time, North Korea, not England, is the occupying force. The Revolution opens with a series of brutal scenes that show your chosen band of freedom fighters as bordering on psychopathic.

After being captured by the Korean People’s Army (KPA) while making bombs, you end up finding your way back to the revolutionaries. Under suspicion of espionage, your former band of brothers beats and brutalizes you before threatening to tear into your flesh with knives and torture you for information. Your main tormentor even goes so far as to suggest that you scream so that she’ll get her fill, all without a shred of indicting evidence.