wrong embryo

with my jaw largely on the floor, i’ve been following the unraveling of dr. hwang woo suk. one of the brightest stars in science and a Korean national hero, hwang shocked the world last year by announcing the first ever cloning of a human cell, and followed up more recently with news of cloning the cells of 11 patients, thereby bringing all of us a major step closer to the day when clonal replacements for aged or damaged tissues and parts would be common place.

but now it seems hwang have been faking it. at least some of the data from the multiple cloning experiment have been called into question. co-authors rush to withdraw, accusations fly – some made by the same withdrawing co-authors – and high-impact journals scramble to re-examine all of hwang’s previous publications for potential additional embarrassment. and as the controversy raged, hwang first went into hiding, claimed to have been hospitalized for stress, and then meekly defended his work after resurfacing yesterday by agreeing that some of the published results might need further verification. there are rumors that even hwang’s original cloning breakthrough is getting another look.

before you break out your dsm iv to see why i’m foaming at the mouth about this, you have to realize that this is about as scandalous as it gets in science. think about it, it’s got everything: nobel-grade breakthrough, hope for millions of desperate patients, clones as commodity, man playing god, national pride and shame, rags-to-riches, and crash-and-burn at the hands of a band of junior korean scientists who systematically unmasked the fraud on their website. did i miss anything?

so hwang is pretty fucked, and i am just beaming. not schadenfreude. i am actually pretty depressed that some of the most exciting news in science over the past couple of years might be a mirage. but because this research car-wreck also shows that warts and all, the scientific process still works pretty well.

it doesn’t take a genius to realize from recent headlines that science is nothing if not misunderstood by the lay audience. the schiavo case and the dover school district’s “scopes 2” trial are reminders of both the current chilling socio-political climate and the immense knowledge gap that exists between the scientists and the public.

so when a juicy story like this bursts into the public arena with its messy entrails of intrigue and deceit, complete with a greek chorus of punk-ass geeks, it shatters perceptions and shakes up the ivory tower. and it shows a maddening, frequently confusing, and at times flawed pursuit of knowledge that nevertheless remains fundamentally vibrant and ultimately effective in getting to the unvarnished reality.

Posted by cellpharmer at December 16, 2005 11:39 AM