Friday Open Thread | 67 comments (67 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

NY Times: 3 Harvard Researchers Retract a Claim on the Aging of Stem Cells

The retraction was published in Thursday's issue of Nature and is signed by the senior author, Amy J. Wagers, and two others. They say that serious concerns, which they did not specify, have undermined their confidence in the original report.
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Dr. Wagers issued a statement saying that she had immediately brought the disturbing information to the attention of Nature and the Harvard Medical School, and that she was working to repeat the experiments. She said by e-mail that the information came to light in the course of studies in her laboratory, prompting her to re-examine the reported data.
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Dr. Wagers has expressed her doubts about a second paper co-authored with Dr. Mayack and published in the journal Blood in August 2008. In a statement issued today, the journal said it was posting a "Notice of Concern" about the paper pending further review.

By laying out pros and cons we risk inducing people to join the debate, and losing control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 15th, 2010 at 04:17:24 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Exactly how it is supposed to work.

Kudos to Dr. Wagers and the other authors for their intellectual honesty.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Oct 15th, 2010 at 07:39:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

His co-author, Ivan Oransky, said many of the retractions involved post-doctoral students who produced unreliable data. It is not clear whether the competitive nature of science puts pressure on the students to cut corners, or whether the laboratory chief creates an atmosphere that induces cheating, Dr. Oransky said.

By laying out pros and cons we risk inducing people to join the debate, and losing control of a process that only we fully understand. - Alan Greenspan

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 15th, 2010 at 09:14:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Friday Open Thread | 67 comments (67 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)