There was a time, not so long ago, when the religious right hailed the discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Headlines blared from the extreme right on the Internet such as, “Embryonic stem cells obsolete”. Even the same kind of thing, saying, “The stem cell debate is dead”. You see opponents of embryonic stem […]
Why the extreme religious right are turning against iPS cells Read More »
After a couple of years blogging about stem cells here, I decided to direct some of my writing effort toward a book on stem cells. I started this project with the publisher last summer and I am happy to report that the book should be coming out later this year some time. I just sent
Writing the book on stem cells Read More »
The induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell field has been red hot over the approximately first half dozen years of its existence from 2006-2011. However, as I blogged about here part way through 2012, it was showing signs of cooling off a bit in terms of the shear output of publications. It turns out that now
IPS cell field milestone: 2012 is first year with fewer publications than previous Read More »
In the coming weeks and months, I am going to run a series of posts (some interviews, some guest posts) on human cloning, the reproductive type. This is the kind of cloning where you take a person (living or dead) such as, let’s say Lady GaGa or Jesus, and you try to make a duplicate
Series on scientific & bioethics leaders discussing human cloning Read More »
The field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has really shaken up science over the last half dozen years reversing our notion that differentiated cells are stuck in that fate, when in reality they are plastic and can “turn back the clock” to become embryonic stem cell-like cells. Now we have an iPSC paper in Nature,
Surprising human mosaicism means not all your cells have the same DNA Read More »
I predict by 2015 most major journals will have ended their hardcopy print versions and will be entirely digital. It just makes good sense from so many perspectives including financially and from an environmental view. This is a radical change from just a few decades ago. During my youngest childhood years, there were no personal
Digital prediction: the end of print science journals Read More »
Why are some scientists so inept socially and end up in struggles interacting with other people? Kindergarten! Yes, my theory is that many of the key events are traceable to kindergarten and more specifically to what future scientists failed to learn then even if they technically passed the class and moved on to first grade.
Open access publishing is getting a lot of attention. 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
The case for open access publishing embodied in a single equation Read More »
Who discovered stem cells? It goes back further than you might think. Is it even possible that one scientific team all by themselves discovered something so ubiquitous as stem cells? In theory yes. However, after research including this in Cell Stem Cell, I believe that no one group discovered stem cells. Also, if you ask the
Who discovered stem cells & when? Some fun science history Read More »
They say politics makes strange bedfellows….remember the Witherspoon Council? These are the fellows who are the BFFs of the two scientists suing to stop federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. They also wrote a large, very stodgy tome about stem cell research, in which they mentioned me and this blog…kinda implying we
Witherspoon Council, Komen, and Fox News Read More »