I’ve been doing a poll on the extent to which people believe or do not believe in the stress-induced STAP stem cells reported in Nature last week.
In just a few days of poll, we’ve got almost 400 respondents, which is great. It’s still not a scientific poll, but the results (above) are interesting for a number of reasons.
First of all, people who the poll are in general relatively guarded about STAP stem cells. Few people are 100% convinced or close to convinced either way thumbs up or thumbs down on STAP stem cells.
The top two answers start with “Not sure…”
Overall, I would say the poll still reflects a somewhat positive sentiment though.
What if we break this down by region?
In Japan, interestingly, there is notably strong belief in STAP stem cells.
75% of respondents from Japan are strong believers in STAP: they either “100% convinced” (30.6%) or “close to convinced” (44.44%) in the STAP cells. Those were the top 2 answers.
Sentiment in the US and UK was only slightly leaning toward the positive.
In Canada and Australia, voters were pretty much evenly split as to believers and non-believers. The few voters from Israel so far are leaning towards not believing in STAP stem cells. Respondents came from many other countries as well.
I am going to repeat the poll in a few months time. I wonder what the poll results will be then when we have learned more.
Should we rather talk about “knowledge” instead of “belief?” What possible good does asking people whether or not they “believe” in STAP cells, or any other cells for that matter? Is this a CNN/FOX survey or a survey for investors?
I know iPS cells exist because I make and culture them in my lab. I don´t know STAP cells exist because I haven´t made them yet. I have read that they exist, and until I make them myself, I do not know if they exist.
Belief has nothing to do with whether something exists of not and a wonderful blog such as ipscell.com should not concern itself with beliefs, but facts.