Days after being sanctioned for research misconduct, bubble-fusion researcher Rusi Taleyarkhan was back in business — with a $185,000 grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

According to information on the foundation's website, Taleyarkhan, who is at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has been contracted to work with students to develop a prototype particle detector based on the effect of radioactive particles on stressed fluids. Taleyarkhan's bubble-fusion experiments also involved the use of radioactive particles to seed bubbles in fluids.

In July, Taleyarkhan was found guilty of two charges of falsification and on 27 August Purdue banned him from having graduate students for three years, and withdrew his named professorship.

But the university apparently failed to notify NSF programme manager Rajinder Khosla, who confirms that Taleyarkhan's grant began on 15 September. Khosla says that he was not aware of the controversy, and plans to review the situation.