There is a scientist’s dilemma: should you speak out on important, sometimes controversial issues in science, where you not only can potentially have positive impact, but also risk being attacked for it? Or do you remain silent? I’ve now been blogging for more than 7 years. I’ve battled the often exploitive for-profit stem cell clinics […]
Scientist’s dilemma: find a public voice on big issues or stay silent? Read More »
2,000 is a big number. As of this week I’ve now published 2,000 posts here on The Niche since I started back in early 2010. I can’t quite believe it myself. To celebrate that milestone, I have revamped The Niche in terms of its organization and style with the help of a very skilled web
The Niche’s 2,000th post: where do we go from here? Read More »
It was just over a decade ago that I started making websites and it’s been a wild ride. My first site was at the domain name www.chromatin.com, which I was fortunate to have been able to get for a good deal way back when…I think in 2005. You can see here an early 2007 copy
~10th anniversary of my 1st website: reflecting on wild ride Read More »
What were the top posts here on The Niche for the past year? I’ve listed some of them below along with some posts from 2015 that remain highly read. Some top 2016 posts 20 Nominees for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2016 Award REGROW Act is Attack on Science-Based Stem Cell Trial Oversight Will new
The Niche top posts of 2016 Read More »
When potentially game changing new technologies are reported such as NgAgo gene editing, both scientists and the public get excited, but especially if such new reports stem from a single paper it is wise to take a cautious approach for a while. The key question is whether the new findings will turn out to be
Nature Biotechnology looking at NgAgo paper amidst reproducibility concerns Read More »
Over at RetractionWatch, their team does a great job following retractions of science papers. Sadly, the number of published manuscript retractions gives them more than enough material to post several times a day. There’s another phenomenon going on that I think might warrant their increased attention: the possibly rising number of retractions or corrections of science
Science press releases behaving badly: time to start tracking their retractions? Read More »
Here are some recommended weekend science reads and links including stem cells, CRISPR, and clones. Woo-Suk Hwang & his dog clones…all started with Snuppy (pictured): Disgraced Scientist Clones Dogs, And Critics Question His Intent.Now in 2020, I wonder where Hwang is and what is he doing? I’m going to look into it. Human gene editing
Recommended weekend science links Read More »
David Jensen reports on the future of CIRM as a “beautiful machine”. CIRM funds brain cancer research in a big way: Funding a clinical trial for deadly cancer is a no brainer. Glioblastoma is a fatal tumor that needs new clinical approaches so this is exciting. One of the goals of my lab is to find new
Weekend science reading: fantastic found links including on CIRM Read More »
It’s a shame that National Geographic (NatGeo) has become part of a corporate empire that is not always consistent, to put it nicely, with data-based reality. Can NatGeo maintain its credibility and impact, when it is owned by a climate change denier (quoted for example as dissing folks as “extreme greenies”) who also has other
TGIF: NatGeo sell out, GM Humans, Wild West, Science backstabbing, & more Read More »
For the past few years post-publication peer review (PPPR) has grown in influence and one particular website, PubPeer, has become the primary go-to place specifically for blunt PPPR. The kind that happens in journal clubs in labs across the world. Comments on PubPeer have led to numerous serious corrections and retractions of flawed articles. I’m most
PubPeer founder neuroscientist Brandon Stell Read More »