Oh God, where will this end? Is it really only physics and chemistry that aren't sloppy cargo-cults, or are they broken too?

A lot of this, I think is to do with taking tenure away from young academics. Once upon a time once you'd proved basic competence and cleverness, you could spend your whole career being careful about stuff. These days you've just got to turn out crap as fast as possible. And you spend most of your time applying for grants.