Across the world governments are investing heavily in science and technology to increase prosperity and benefit their societies. But this capacity building needs proper scrutiny to ensure that public and private money is spent well and to enhance rather than diminish our quality of life. We bring together three of the world's leading science journalists to discuss how they stopped science going wrong in their countries. They are Pallava Bagla from India who exposed the grey literature used in climate change and Veronique Morin a documentary maker and TV presenter on the exploitation of native Canadians for scientific research.