What scares scientists? What fears keep them up at night worrying? What makes them scream (if only in their heads)? As part of my elephant in the lab series tackling difficult but important topics for scientists, today I am talking fear! Earlier posts in this series included taboo topics about iPS cells, the dirty dozen …
Fears of academic scientists: elephant in the lab series Read More »
Taxpayer supported government grants + scientists’ work = closed access publisher profits (derived from payments from taxpayers + scientists) This simple equation embodies all that is wrong with today’s predominant system of publishing. In fact, it is an indictment of closed access publishers. The profits of closed access publishers come at the expense of science …
The case for open access publishing embodied in a single equation Read More »
Just about exactly two and a half years ago I had surgery for prostate cancer, a serious prostate cancer that could not be watched. I could not be waiting. It changed my life. How was my prostate cancer diagnosed at age 42, an age when no one told me I should even be thinking about …
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater on PSA testing & prostate cancer Read More »
TGIF It’s been a wild week on this blog with many thoughts going out to the future of stem cells in Texas. What about stem cell headlines of the week? Some wildness there too and lots of discussion of translational applications, which is exciting. This week let’s start in reverse order with the ugly and …
TGIF: good, bad, ugly stem cell headlines of week of May 25 Read More »
Dear Governor Rick Perry, Yesterday I came down very hard on you in a post for your visit to the Scripps Research Institute in California and the video that was made about it. (2020 update: Rick Perry is still plugging Celltex after 8 more years!) Maybe I was a bit over the top… However, it got …
Open letter to Rick Perry: how Texas can lead on stem cells Read More »
What’s the scoop on stem cell sports medicine? So far the role of stem cells in sports medicine is essentially all hype. We see sports stars getting stem cell treatments that are not approved by the FDA and have little if any science behind them. I covered stem cell sports medicine in an earlier post …
Stem Cell Sports Medicine 2.0: entering the red zone Read More »
Is Vitamin D a miracle drug or a disappointment like almost all other vitamins? Just recently there was a piece saying that Vitamin D may reduce pain. Today there was another news article saying Vitamin D may protect men against more aggressive prostate cancer. You name the condition and Vitamin D is claimed to help with …
Vitamin D: is this supplement helpful or hype-ful? Read More »
What are the top 10 stem cell events of a crazy 2012 to date? Based on this wild list in just over 3 months, I would say 2012 overall will prove to be a memorable one. 1. Celltex and McGee versus University of Minnesota’s Turner and Elliott. Glenn McGee, at one point both editor of American …
Stem cell stories of a crazy 2012 so far including Celltex Read More »
The Texas State Medical Board reportedly approved new rules for the use of adult stem cells. The ruling was at least in part a result of Texas Governor and former GOP presidential hopeful, Rick Perry, strongly pushing the issue. Perry himself received a controversial, non-FDA approved stem cell transplant in 2011 as part of a …
Cancer invokes powerful feelings so it is not surprising that there are a lot of harmful myths and urban legends out there about it. As a cancer researcher and cancer survivor, I can see it from both the biomedical research side and the patient side. Here’s my top 10 list of myths & legends about …