Ginkgo Bioworks Might Not Fail, Probably Will

On May 13, 2024 Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc. announced that it received a notice on May 7 from the NYSE informing the company that is is not in compliance with Section 802.01C. The commons stock was under $1 per share over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. Ginkgo has 6 months to regain compliance.

The company has been in existence since 2008. It's IPO was in 2001. They entered the market through a merger with SPAC Soaring Eagle at a $17.5B valuation. They currently have a market cap of $0.94B. The CEO and co-founder, Jason Kelly has been the only CEO (16.3 years) at Ginkgo. He is asking for a raise.

The solution to the problems of the Biotechnology industry, as well as the recent debates of the Covid virus origination is the empowered laboratory work force. The people at the highest positions think they can bully underlings around like Steve Jobs at Apple. The problem is that Steve Jobs was bullying some very smart and useful people around. Biotech and the life sciences leaders have spent their time diminishing the significance of the work done by their subordinates. As a result they were all left with nothing but the narrative they started with. No scientific backing to prop up and/or propel the big ideas. We end up with pandemics they didn't see coming and $15B corporate failures. And it happens fast. 

If there were an empowered laboratory workforce, it might just work as Ginkgo claims their labs work. From a business perspective you want the projects to all work out. Need a protein? Here you go. Need a test? Here you go. The problem is spelled out in the Cargo Cult Science speech. It's not a question of how to arrange things differently, like the coconut headsets. There is a fundamental misunderstanding. 

Theoretically Ginkgo would be the empowered laboratory workforce. Someone with power applies skepticism to the claims of those in their group. They send the research out for testing. The testing is done in the empowered laboratory by skilled life long professionals. What Ginkgo does however is not at the skeptical level. They allow for the claims of magical molecules, develop the molecules and they hand them back to the people who thought them up. The original thinkers and Ginkgo have both avoided the empowered laboratory work force. No one has applied the scientific method described in the CCS to put the idea through the black box. Idea in, reality out. 

Half of the NIH $39B budget should go towards laboratories that test the work done by the grantees who receive the other half of the budget. 

Just as we saw with the e-mail between Collins and Fauci, forcing desired outcomes is how science is conducted at the highest levels. "This proposal from the three fringe epidemiologists who met with the Secretary seems to be getting a lot of attention-and even a signature from Nobel Prize winner Mike Leavitt at Stanford. There needs to be a quick and devastating published take down of its premises. I don't see anything like that on line yet. Is it on it underway?" - Francis Collins to Anthony Fauci

The empowered laboratory workforce would be interested in the database at the Wuhan lab. It would be easy to discover if they had anything to do with Sars-Cov2 if they had laboratory evidence. Collins and Fauci would not know how to find it. They wouldn't know what to look for. Instead they wield the kind of power that says, "write a paper and have it published in a major journal that disputes the ideas we can not abide". How does a scientist dispute ideas that may be true? Step one: Avoid the evidence!

Ginkgo has a similar scientific method. A company comes to them needing one of the many services. Let's say they want a protein made and manufactured to be sold as a drug delivery product. The company tells Ginkgo what the protein will do once it is made. Ginkgo makes the protein. They hand it back. The company now has to prove that the protein does what they said it will do. Sars Cov2 did not come from a lab in Wuhan and this new protein will deliver drugs to specific cells. If anyone says otherwise, take them down in the journals. 

What then is Ginkgos role in the success of their business partner? None. They take the money if the company succeeds at getting their desired outcome.

The desired outcome is not the actual outcome most of the time. The truth (reality) is tough. If you make widgets on an assembly line your job is well defined. If you make antibodies that bind to specific proteins you are making widgets. The complicated nature of the work is higher than that of the assembly line worker. The difference is akin to a person who makes cakes versus someone who makes rocket engines. If your job is to convince others that the widgets cure cancer, you are not making widgets. You work in advertising. You sell your companies product. You sell whatever they tell you to sell. The highest ranking officials tell you what the desired product will do. Everybody else lives and dies on whether or not the desired product does what it is supposed to do. 

Will Ginkgo Bioworks fail? It's not up to them. It depends on chance. Luck. Will their business model allow them to land that one product that will make them the kind of money they have structured into their payoff system? It's not up to them. They are on a fishing expedition. 

Truth in Science

https://youtu.be/LKiBlGDfRU8?si=ij36LqvMFEWwuLGT

Ginkgo Aquires Seattle Biotech Modulus

A big fish eats a small fish to sustain life. With that in mind let's look at the latest acquisition of Modulus Therapeutics by Ginkgo Bioworks.

A common standard among publicly traded companies is that they must maintain a stock price above one dollar per share. If they drop below one dollar per share for 30 days they receive deficiency notice. From there they have a certain period of time to get their finances back up to compliance. Atossa Therapeutics, another Seattle based biotech (Cargo Cult), recently went through what Ginkgo may soon be facing. On September 26, 2023, Atossa was notified by Nasdaq that it was not in compliance because they failed to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive trading days. They were required to go 10 consecutive trading days over the $1.00 per share price, which they accomplished on March 14, 2024, almost 6 months later.

Ginkgo Bioworks is currently at $1.08 per share. Year-to-date they are down over 36% in spite of their acquisitions and new contracts. They recently announced a new contract award of up to $6M from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop materials that control the physical properties of ice crystals. They also announced the acquisition of a Seattle based company Modulus Therapeutics which specializes in cell therapies for autoimmunity. What value did they add to the company? More than an "up to" $6M addition?

Modulus lists funding at $3.5M seed money. They were founded in 2020. They have 2 to 10 employees with 11 associated members. Is there an office and a laboratory? Do they lease space? How much of the $3.5M is left and what did Ginkgo pay for the acquisition?

In value investing one has to piece together a picture of a company and it's future earnings. With biotech start ups it is virtually impossible to crunch the numbers because start ups don't make money. They spend it. In order to assess the value, as Ginkgo did, you have to understand the science. We will assume that Ginkgo leadership can at least justify the acquisition by touting the science and it's potential. What we cannot do is assess how much the company was worth monetarily and what Ginkgo paid for it. 

The CEO of Modulus said this about the acquisition:

"I'm excited to announce that Modulus Therapeutics has completed a transaction with Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. that will further strengthen Ginkgo's presence in the cell therapy engineering arena."

Jason Kelly of Ginko Bioworks said this about the acquisition: 

"Modulus Therapeutics has built an array of incredible cell therapy assets that we are excited to add into the significant cell therapy capabilities Ginkgo has developed to date."

Combined: Ginkgo and Modulus completed a transaction that added Modulus's cell therapy assets to Ginkgo's cell therapy assets. If you want to buy what Modulus used to sell, you have to pay Ginkgo. The question is, how well was Modulus doing? Was anybody buying and how will Ginkgo increase the value of the assets? 

Ginkgo is nearing the $1.00 per share cutoff. They must add value to their company to add value to their share price. While Ginkgo has been acquiring small fish into their system they have not become a bigger fish. The share value has continued to go down. The acquisitions have not led to significant projects or sales to bolster their value. With one block buster partnership they could easily fight off the delisting threat. But for now they must continue throwing spaghetti at the wall and hope it will stick. 

We can't write off scientific efforts. Somewhere within the walls of Atossa and Ginkgo lies science. Yet they do not make money. They will probably fail and no one will remember they we're here. How can it be with all of the PhDs/MDs and VCs? Something is missing. The science that exists is not being put to work properly. 

We call these companies Cargo Cults because they operate in that space. Atossa has long struggled to remain listed on the Nasdaq. They have had FDA warnings. They have yet to summon the big metal birds onto their runway. But they still go to work and do things, important things like dealing with the FDA, SEC and NASDAQ.  Ginkgo Bioworks do important and difficult things like acquiring companies and adding assets to their portfolio. They too have yet to demonstrate a cargo operation. When you spend more than you make, you are not in business for long. Unlike Atossa, Ginkgo may be too big to survive. In other words, they are unaware that they are in the Cargo Cult zone. Atossa seems to have a special skill in staying alive in spite of their dubious products and/or services. Ginkgo has spent too much on their CCS Airport.

Now it behooves me, of course to tell you what they're missing. But it would be just about as difficult to explain to the South Sea Islanders how they have to arrange things so that they get some wealth in their system.  It is not something simple like telling them how to improve the shapes of the earphones...

Third Millennium Thinking: A Conversation with Saul Perlmutter, John Cam...

Why are the authors of this book not crediting Richard Feynman?

From the speech: 

That is the idea that we all hope you have learned in studying science in school—we never explicitly say what this is, but just hope that you catch on by all the examples of scientific investigation.  It is interesting, therefore, to bring it out now and speak of it explicitly.  

But this long history of learning how to not fool ourselves—of having utter scientific integrity—is, I’m sorry to say, something that we haven’t specifically included in any particular course that I know of.  We just hope you’ve caught on by osmosis.

 

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.  

Richard Feynman - Cargo Cult Science speech to the 1974 class of Cal Tech. 

They use the words explicitly and osmosis. They don't say Richard or Feynman.  

In my opinion people who pick up this book will cling to their biases as they read the book. They will be seeking evidence that they are correct and those who think differently are incorrect. Who wants to verify that they are wrong? Yet that is what Feynman tells us is part of the scientific method. We must explicitly attack our thinking and try to prove it wrong. 

The first red flag is simply the reliance on the authority of science. The authors are telling you that they know of the way and you need only follow them down the path. At the end of the path is certainty. Yet the Scottish Berkeley professor tells you that we have to let go of certainty. I would agree with that statement. What they don't mention, at least in this video, is that the certainty of scientists is no more accurate than the certainty of anyone else. Quite possibly scientists get it wrong more than bankers, judges, janitors and bakers. John Ioannidis published a paper claiming that 90% of published scientific medical research contains false information. What is the accuracy of truth in the National Inquirer? It is probably better than Cell/Nature/Science. 

Can you imagine a professional scientist claiming that The National Inquirer reports more accurate information than Cell/Nature/Science? It would be blasphemy! That is the religion of science. The scientific method would simply take the claim into consideration, define the terms and proceed too find the truth.  

Dr. Ionnidis was also embroiled in the scientific debates over the pandemic. The certainty of science was demonstrated very clearly during Covid. Scientists do not agree on what the rest of the world calls "science". They simply employ the concepts put forth and attempt to explain things that are useful to know. However, when the truth is not useful to those in power, the scientist must cave to the edicts of a Fauci-like leader or hold their tongue. To speak out with a scientific methodology will land you in the dog house with a damaged reputation. The profession of science is not a shining example of how to employ the scientific method. 

The second red flag is the timing of a book that claims now is the time for such a book. The scientific method has always been important. All times in our world have needed the scientific mind. The scientific mind will always be at odds with the rest of the world population. Would this book however delve into the Covid response? Did our professional scientists who went against the establishment receive proper attention or were they cancelled by other scientists? In other words, did our scientific establishment employ the scientific method during Covid?

Most people will read the book to validate that Trump is evil or that Covid was fake news. Whatever your political leanings, religious beliefs, rural vs urban viewpoint... this book may very well support your beliefs. People are going to believe what they prefer to believe. No book can fix that. 

Feynman's identifies the problem facing science when he spoke of the charge on an electron:

One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops and got an answer which we now know not to be quite right.  It’s a little bit off, because he had the incorrect value for the viscosity of air.  It’s interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of the electron, after Millikan.  If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bigger than Millikan’s, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, and the next one’s a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher.

 

Scientists get it wrong. That is part of the process. There is no authority who knows the proper way. Those who make the claim are gurus, shaman, preachers and snake oil salesmen. The scientific method is something that must be taken on by leadership. People will get it right and they will get it wrong. Who will be taken seriously is the issue. 

With that skeptical viewpoint I will read this book. It might be very good. The publicity however makes me wonder. Are the authors aware that the worst offenders against the scientific method are scientists themselves? Are they willing to point the finger at science? 

Appealing to the Authority of Man

At some point, if you are a Cargo Cult, you begin to realize that the Gods aren't going to step in. You are failing at getting the Cargo and the natives are getting restless. You must appeal to something more reasonable, something you can control. You find the highest ranking human in your group and begin to set up a new strategy. The big metal birds are not landing no matter how you reshape your runways. The headset made of coconuts and sticks cannot be made to summon the cargo planes. It has to be that the people are doing something wrong. They are not using the airport you have designed properly.

The first step is to set up a new agency. Then set up a few more.  Devote more resources towards the new groups. Let them define the issues and new terms to discuss said issues. Have meetings. Make claims that things are beginning to succeed, according to the new way of thinking...

BOSTON and LEXINGTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Program has awarded, through the Medical CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear] Defense Consortium (MCDC) requirement 22-05, "Adjuvant Activity to Vaccines Prototype," a 5-year contract totaling up to $31 million including program options to the team of Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and SaponiQx, Inc. (a subsidiary of Agenus Inc., NASDAQ:AGEN) to discover and develop next-generation vaccine adjuvants. Partners in adjuvant discovery and development since 2021, Ginkgo, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and SaponiQx, developing a visionary adjuvant development platform, will use a combination of high-throughput empirical and artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches, including Generative Molecular Design (GMD), to develop superior novel saponin-based adjuvants.

If you look at the SaponiQx website you see a rather sparse pipeline. QS-21 (available for supply) QS-7 and QS-X (R&D phase). At the inception of the company, which coincided with their partnership with Ginkgo, QS-21 was already "available for supply". Very little seems to have been done since 2021 in spite of the two powerhouses in the vaccine adjuvant space.

What has been accomplished is a $31M 5 year contract to develop what the two companies said they were going to develop using their combined expertise. The final piece of the puzzle was this agreement from DTRA, JSTO, CBD through the DBRN, MCDC requirement 22-25. 

If all goes according to plan there will be cargo by the year 2029. 

So Many Collaborations

I asked Gemini, "Who is The Cargo Cult Scientist?

"The term originated from a famous speech by physicist Richard Feynman called "Cargo Cult Science." He used the analogy of cargo cults in Pacific islands, who built elaborate mock runways and control towers in hopes of attracting cargo planes. Similarly, "cargo cult scientists" might go through the motions of research, collecting data and conducting experiments, but their work lacks the underlying foundation of scientific rigor and ultimately fails to produce meaningful results or contribute to genuine scientific understanding."

Okay then! Now let's look at a possible Cargo Cult Science project:

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Program has awarded, through the Medical CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear] Defense Consortium (MCDC) requirement 22-05, "Adjuvant Activity to Vaccines Prototype," a 5-year contract totaling up to $31 million including program options to the team of Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and SaponiQx, Inc. (a subsidiary of Agenus Inc., NASDAQ:AGEN) to discover and develop next-generation vaccine adjuvants. Partners in adjuvant discovery and development since 2021, Ginkgo, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and SaponiQx, developing a visionary adjuvant development platform, will use a combination of high-throughput empirical and artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches, including Generative Molecular Design (GMD), to develop superior novel saponin-based adjuvants. -BOSTON and LEXINGTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

They are going to research and develop variants of naturally occurring compounds known as Saponins.

This is an important concept because the current method for obtaining saponins is to extract the compound from tree bark. The process is not environmentally friendly.

Back in 2021 "Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools we have to fight pandemics, but ensuring widespread access to efficacious vaccines continues to be a major challenge worldwide," says Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. "We're proud that our platform is being used by companies across the vaccine supply chain to develop and manufacture the materials necessary for life-saving vaccines."

Currently SaponiQx has one adjuvant available for supply (QS-21) and two in the R&D phase (QS-7 and QS-X. They have zero job openings. They have been working with Ginkgo since 2021.

The problem with Cargo Cult Scientists, according to Gemeni, "their work lacks the underlying foundation of scientific rigor and ultimately fails to produce meaningful results or contribute to genuine scientific understanding."

The collaboration touted in the recent press release by Ginkgo and SaponiQX has actually been ongoing since 2021. Where are the fruits of this labor? Meaningful results or advanced scientific understanding?

Instead we have a word salad. Who is now involved in making SaponinQX successful?

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Program... through the Medical CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear] Defense Consortium (MCDC) requirement 22-05, "Adjuvant Activity to Vaccines Prototype," ...Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and SaponiQx, Inc.

The Cargo? A 5-year contract totaling up to $31 million.

Dying of Cancer

My mom died in 2023 from ovarian cancer. She was diagnosed in 2022, underwent surgery to remove a large tumor, underwent chemotherapy and died in July of 2023. There were no experimental drug trials offered as alternative therapies. There was no semblance of medical science advances. No antibodies against a specific protein on a cancer cell. No attempts to stop cancer cells from growing by targeting angiogenesis. No oncolytic viruses were injected into her body to take out cancer cells. No RNA anti-sense drugs, no RNA interference, no DNA gene therapy, no new anything. Just surgery, chemotherapy, death. 

And it was not a very good existence. My mom became weak to the point we were ready to put her into a nursing facility. She lost her appetite often and simply had to force herself to eat something for energy. In the end we found her lying on the couch unable to get up. We called 911. She went to the hospital. The nurse told us that our mom would be released later that day. Nope, was our response. Two days later my mom passed away at the age of 77.

I suppose this is how we go. At 77 you are in danger of succumbing to a number of things. Our cells have kept us going for over 28,000 days. We wake up with renewed energy. We go to bed with the energy spent. We wake up recharged. Along the way we may do bad things regarding diet and exercise. We may breath in air pollution. We may challenge our systems with drugs, alcohol, and/or tobacco. When we feel something is wrong we go to the doctor and they diagnose the symptoms. 

As each day comes and goes we are one day closer to the end. As we approach the age of 77 we are getting close. We don't know how long we have but that is for the best. A positive attitude can go a long way. 

Sleep is biochemistry inside the brain. Our bodies need to sleep so our cells can be replenished. There is a cleansing process that occurs during stage 4 sleep. There is a pleasant dream phase called REM. If we drink too much the biochemistry shuts down the day in a sudden sleep. We call that passing out. We awake before the normal amount of sleep feeling poisoned. Food can also affect the sleep process. Too much Western society fast food or processed food will also cause trouble. A day of eating mostly vegetables and natural food with a fair amount of exercise that ends at the same hour (no drugs/alcohol/cigarettes) will lead to a pleasant nights sleep with an awakening with restored energy. 

In the end my mom was not pleased with how she slept. She awoke with little energy. She made her way to the recliner where she would spend the day. Good Morning America was followed by Gunsmoke, Leave It to Beaver, Happy Days, The View... The last show made her an angry old person. The old time shows made her happy as if in a state of REM sleep. No mental challenges. The future was filled with chemotherapy and ultimately death. I don't mean to be depressing but for her it had become real. She did not have the energy to fight back. 

So that is all. Cancer is wrapped up in the complexity of our DNA. It makes itself known when we can no longer stop the force it has on the overall system. We have little to show for our research. Just money spent and careers of the successful scientists. 

Ginkgo Announces New Advisory Board!

 January 8, 2024

Today we’re thrilled to announce the formation of our new Biopharma Advisory Board!

This council of experts from across the biopharmaceutical industry will provide critical insight into the development of Ginkgo’s core platform service offerings across target discovery, drug discovery, optimization, and manufacturing. The group, which will conduct regular meetings at Ginkgo and with its partners, includes (in alphabetical order) —

How many of these CEO's have signed deals with Ginkgo Bioworks to provide Ginkgo with revenue rather than Ginkgo providing the CEO's with income? 

“We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits.”

– George Merck

I would like to focus on one of the members of the new committee. Previously I have talked about one of the new members of Ginkgos Advisory Board.

• John Maraganore, PhD, served as the founding Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Alnylam from 2002 to 2021. Under his leadership, Alnylam helped lead the interventional RNA revolution by launching the first RNAi therapeutic medicine, ONPATTRO®, in 2018, followed by four more RNAi therapeutics through mid-2022. Dr. Maraganore was the chair of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) from 2017 to 2019 and is an active mentor to leaders across the biotechnology industry. John is the principal of JMM Innovation, and also serves as a Venture Partner for Arch Ventures and Atlas Ventures, an executive partner for RTW Investments, a senior advisor for Blackstone Life Sciences, and as an advisor for M28.

A quick search of ONPATTRO: 

Wikipedia

Onpattro is a medication used for the treatment of polyneuropathy in peop[le with hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis, a fatal rare disease that is estimated to affect 50,000 people worldwide.

The per-patient cost is between US $451,430 and $677,145, depending on the number of vials needed. As of 2020, there were 1050 people globally receiving parisian, generating $65.5M in net revenues. 

The FDA

Alnylams Pharmaceuticals push for parisian to be expanded to a much larger pool of patients...

In a briefing document released ahead of the Sept. 13 meeting of the FDA's Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee, the agency called into question the efficacy of the drug in treating that pool of patients.

Remember, medicine is for the people, not the profits. 

Patisiran was already approved by the FDA in 2018 for the treatment of hereditary ATTR amyloidosis polyneuropathy, which made it the first-ever RNA interference therapeutic approved by the regulator.

Nevertheless, vutrisan - sold under the brand name Amvuttra - still represents the company's most lucrative product. In its second-quarter 2023 financial update, net revenues for the drug were $132 million, versus $91 million for Onpattro. In the fourth quarter Onprattro sales were down to $79M.

For the full-year 2023 net product revenues of $1.24B were reported. The revenues come from sales of its four marketed products Onpattro, Amvuttra, Givlaari and Oxlumo.

Onpattro: $355M

Ambuttra: $558M

4060 patients worldwide were receiving commercial Onpattro and Amvuttra as of year-end 2023.

Givlaari: $219M

Oxlumo: $110M

650 patients were receiving Givlaari as of year-end 2023

430 patients were receiving Oxlumo as of year-end 2023

So roughly 5140 patients are generating $1.24B. 

Yahoo Finance

In October 2023, Alnylam experienced a massive setback after the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) in response to the company's supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the label expansion of Onpattro to treat the cardiomyopathy of transtheyretin-mediated (ATTR) amyloidosis. 

However, following this development, the company shifted its focus to the phase III HELIOS-B label-expanding study of Amvuttra in the treatment of cardiomyopathy of ATTR amyloidosis. 

CCS

John Maraganore has long struggled to get dubious RNAi drug products on the market. From the perspective of the market, he has succeeded. But then again, so did the Covid vaccine. Safety and efficacy can be dealt with best under emergency conditions. John Maraganore has succeeded. He is a hard working man. Long listed here as a Cargo Cult Scientist he has created over $25B in market capitalization. 

Alas, only 5,140 patients are receiving treatment. Those patients are already very sick people. They get results only a professional statistician working in the Cargo Cults can detect. We have to wonder what it is like for the patients receiving the RNAi drug product. Do they feel a difference? Are they less sick?

In the Cargo Cults the natives still look to the skies. They believe what they are doing will one day provide results. Ginkgo Bioworks has said that John Maraganore has produced results and he will now advise them on how they too can see the massive returns on their investments. Although the expertise of John Maraganore was in RNAi drugs, he seems to have now moved on to biotechnology capital. He is an investment strategist. He advises on money. Ginkgo does not do RNAi drugs. Nonetheless, they have found an ally. A man who knows that medicine can make great profits even if the people don't need them. 

Book List

 1.  Betyrayers of the Truth - William Broad and Nicholas Wade

The lures of careerism and big money, the pressures of huge research factories, the repeated failure of supposedly fail-safe mechanisms of scientific inquiry to detect and correct fraud - Betrayers of the Truth is about how science really works and why scientists are tempted to cheat. 

2.  On Bullshit - Harry G Frankfurt

Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory."

3.  Innumeracy - John Allen Paulos

Mathematical Illiteracy and It's Consequences. Innumeracy - the mathematical counterpart of illiteracy- is a disease that has ravaged our technological society.

4.  A Drunkards Walk - Leonard Mlodinow

How Randomness Rules Our Lives. 

5. Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

Challenging assumptions about making decisions based on rational thought. No amount of education can reliably prevent us from making mistakes. We can be, because of our biases, the easiest person for us to fool. 

A healthy dose of skepticism is necessary when looking at information. Be it the modern day media to science to technology, we all must have the ability to separate the truth from everything else. Our bias is our biggest enemy. We will prefer certain truths over others.