http://undark.org/

This is a new online science mag that is designed to talk about some of the issues in science reporting. They also have a podcast and in that podcast they talked about some of these. One was press release from the University of Maryland supposedly about a study that showed a certain type of chocolate milk had a protective effect against concussion. Turns out, there was no such study and the university had a relationship with the company.

So, I do have a issue with science funding by corporations. Even if there is no influence there, it does call the legitimacy into question. It shouldn't be allowed for corporations to fund real science outside of the company itself. They should not be allowed to fund university labs or researchers or museums, period. But this is a problem of funding. The government should be funding more science than it is. And for certain topics, it is prohibited from providing funds (stem cell research, guns). So what is the answer in those cases? Money from donors and organizations that may have a vested interest in the outcome. It's really hard. Science is so important, yet we as a people do not provide the finding we need, so it come from questionable sources. And if the government does provide the funding, the Republicans (and others, sometimes) complain about the studies as being silly or frivolous or useless because they don't understand.