Fortunately for jackals, there's an unjustified independence assumption here. Other stuff I've read strongly suggests that the outcomes of published research are strongly influenced by the expectations of the researchers about future grant money.

(1) Do people act more rationally when their interests are more directly concerned?

Hell, no. Religion (especially the more commandment-heavy ones like Islam and Orthodox Judaism) being the best example, with interpersonal relationships running a close second.

The idea of that strip, as I understand it, is that scientists pretty much only act rationally inside the lab.