Laments

I am being forced to believe that there are only a few 'true' scientists left in the world. Professors who (probably) did good science during their 'younger' life, no longer keep up with the current trends and lack the current knowledge. Hence they depend on their students and trust their understanding and summaries of research work. But students, sometimes, take advantage of this, presenting the professor with only what is needed, so that their argument APPEARS cogent. Especially when the research group is working on diverse areas, there is no one else to pinpoint out the mistake. It is the moral responsibility of the grad scholar to read and understand the literature *correctly* and think how to progress that field of research. When a mistake is pointed out, it is simply ridiculous if the grad scholar says " I am sorry, I messed up"! Science is no fun (and, especially you can say this to a reviewer)! It ought to be correct and that only is Science. I don't know why these hell creatures who *cannot* awe at Nature come to do Science. Admission should NOT be offered to anyone who wants to do a PhD just because it promises higher salary. A master degree would be sufficient for that! Infact, surveys have shown that master students earn more than a PhD graduate.
And it is the professor's moral responsibility to keep themselves updated of what is happening in the field and direct the grad student in more appropriate ways.
The professor should also NOT float a project if he doesn't know anything about it. Sometime ago, I had a chat with my friend, and we thought : Any professor who floats a project should first write a detailed proposal and submit it to the department for approval - which would ensure that the professor knows enough about the subject.

Well, life has to move on, whatever happens. :-(