Scary subject matter.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

This being Hallowe'en, I felt like I should serve you something scary.

But what?

Verily, we've talked about some scary things here:

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• Dangers to life and limb in academic chemistry labs, and the suggestion that lab safety is too expensive.

• My unsavory habit of sending gastropods in my garden to a soapy end

• Implicit biases that lurk in our brains, waiting to seize control

• Crackpots

• Plagiarists

• Scientific frauds

More scary subjects have come up on my other blog, including:

• Scientific ghostwriting

• The humble chemistry set (which is enough to scare the Department of Homeland Security silly)

• A scientific job market that is often cruel

• Researchers who think it is a good idea to chain young researchers to the lab bench and throw away the key

• Scientists who have a pronounced aversion to thinking about ethics

Making this list, I'm very glad it's still light out! Otherwise I might be quaking uncontrollably.

Truth be told, as someone who works with ethics for a living, I'm less afraid of monsters than I am of ordinary humans who lose sight of their duties to their fellow humans.

And frankly, when it comes to things that go bump in the night, I'm less terrified than curious …

especially since the things that go "bump" in my kitchen usually involve the intriguing trio of temperature-, pressure-, and phase-changes -- which is to say, it's nothing a little science couldn't demystify.

Have a happy, safe, and ethical Hallowe'en!