Guest Post By Sai Vemula Space travel to Mars. Robot zoo. Nano-Sumo. 3D printers. Dissected squids. The Bay Area Science Festival, held this year in San Francisco this weekend, attracts more than 30,000 visitors each year, with parents and kids of all ages who are treated to over 150 interactive experiments and demonstrations ranging from chemical […]
STEM CELLS MEET PLAY DOH! Read More »
Lately on average patients or patient relatives contact me about stem cells more than once a week. That’s about 50 times a year. The patients or their parents have questions about stem cells most often. Sometimes they have comments about this blog. Other times they ask for medical advice from me. Because I am a
Contemplating patients contacting me about stem cells Read More »
Some stem cell clinics are pressuring their own patients into potentially breaking federal law through something like smuggling. A big problem for certain clinics is how to bring the paying American customer (i.e. the patient) and the biological product that they are selling derived from the patient’s stem cells together outside the reach of the
Patient Advisory: Sneaking Stem Cells Out of USA May Be Illegal Smuggling Read More »
On his show, Conan O’Brien on Monday (7/29/13) made a stem cell joke, perhaps without even realizing it. The joke was reprinted in the SacBee this morning (see image at right). The joke is based on the recent development of a synthetic hamburger made from stem cells in a lab (you can read more here).
Conan O’Brien Makes Stem Cell Joke on Test Tube Burger Read More »
I’ve written in the past (see here, here, and parody here on HuffPost) about how stem cell sports medicine is a dangerous thing. It continues to grow in popularity. There’s a new piece out now saying that Ultimate Fight Championship President Dana White went on a stem cell tourism trip to Germany for a treatment
Snake oil stem cell sports medicine: A-Rod, Kobe, Dana White Read More »
I requested of Celltex a copy of the email/letter that they recently sent to their patients. They kindly provided me a copy, which you can read here (snap shot of beginning is above). Thank you, Celltex! I also asked Celltex some questions regarding their plan to start having patients treated in Mexico. Unfortunately, they have
Celltex on the move: full copy of letter to patients, new slogan, and new video Read More »
Over the years on a fairly regular basis I’ve been contacted by patients seeking information about stem cell treatments and stem cell clinics. Note that patients may want to check out my stem cell patient guide, which has key questions and advocates for a critical, skeptical view of these offerings. But in 2012 the number
Dubious stem cell clinics increasing and at epidemic levels Read More »
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
Harmful cancer myths & urban legends Read More »
The era of privacy is over. People are saying this so often lately that is almost cliche, but I’m starting to believe it is true. My recent experience is illustrative and it has convinced me that privacy is indeed almost a quaint anachronism. The main instrument in the death of privacy is the Internet. For
The end of privacy Read More »
How should we all handle cyber safety issues? Could someone be stealing your work-related or personal data while you travel? If you have recently traveled outside the U.S., particularly to China or Russia, I have bad news for you because you may have already been hacked. Check out this article in the NY Times about how dangerous
Helpful cyber safety tips for trips Read More »