NEUTRINO NEWS, BROUGHT TO YOU FASTER THAN LIGHT. The research showing that neutrinos can travel faster than light has been confirmed.
Goodbye Einstein? Not so fast. According to the Nature Newsblog, "most physicists remain skeptical." I don't doubt it for a moment.
This is new news, so there isn't much blogging as I write, although there surely will be. Chad Orzel has useful details at Uncertain Principles. He links to Tommaso Dorigo's detailed explanations at Science 2.0. There's an exclamation point in the hed, so you know where Tommaso is coming from. Apparently there is (or was) a difficulty getting the paper from the Arxiv. He has kindly provided a link to an alternate source at A Quantum Diaries Survivor. It's a slow download. Traffic, I suppose.
A CRITICAL MASS OF STEM CELLS. Much stem-cell news this week. It yielded a teeny bit of hope, a ton of hype, and a substantial amount of bad news for stem-cell research, especially the very contentious research on stem cells from human embryos.
DON'T BE STILL, MY HEART. At the American Heart Association meeting, two noteworthy stem-cell reports. One was somewhat encouraging, the other less so, and both were small and so warrant caution. Which mostly didn't happen.
The former was a small study showing that infusion of autologous cardiac stem cells into patients some months after bypass surgery improved heart pumping volume; it has just been published by The Lancet. The other study, in which researchers infused autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells into patients a couple weeks after a heart attack, reported that the cells did not improve function — so much so that the NIH press release headline was uncharacteristically blunt: "Delayed stem cell therapy following heart attack is safe but not effective." It has just been published by JAMA.
It astonishes me that so few outlets considered the studies together when it seems like such an obvious thing to do. One reporter who did, and did a complete and careful job, was Chris Kaiser, Cardiology Editor at MedPage Today.
Larry Husten at CardioBrief gave cautious praise to the cardiac cell paper but ignored the bone marrow cell paper. I can't help wondering if his topic selection has something to do with the fact that Husten also works for WebMD, which ran an unjustifiably enthusiastic piece about the cardiac cell paper and also ignored the bone marrow research. In fact, Health News Review complained about the WebMD piece, flunking it on 4 of its 10 criteria for a good medical story.
The WebMD piece was by Daniel DeNoon, who — believe it or not — actually called the cardiac cell paper a breakthrough..
I'm so naive.
I really really really thought science and medical writers had sworn off "breakthrough."
Particularly when a new finding isn't one.
Sigh.
To his credit, Husten disapproves of "breakthrough" too, and chastised TV reporters for using it. But for a thorough thrashing of TV, see Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview blog, which showed how the networks hyped the cardiac cell story. Schwitzer humiliated NBC with a video clip, but did not neglect CBS and ABC, pointing out that they had lifted quotes from both WebMD and the Beeb.
SCARLETT SEES RED — RED INK. SO GERON ABANDONS STEM-CELL THERAPY. The stem-cell tale that occupied considerably more space — perhaps because it involved no words that had to be looked up, like autologous — was about stem-cell pioneer Geron forsaking the field. See Gretchen Vogel at ScienceInsider and Heidi Ledford at the Nature Newsblog for details.
The bottom line was, apparently, the bottom line. The company's new president, John Scarlett, said continuing would have meant borrowing new money. He decided on downsizing instead, cutting 66 jobs, 38% of the Geron work force. He also shut down a clinical trial that is using neuronal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells in an attempt to repair spinal injuries. Four patients are already in the trial. So far the cells are reportedly safe, but seem to have no effect on the injuries. The patients will continue to be followed, but no additional subjects will be enrolled, and the company says it's seeking a buyer.
Derek Lowe reported the news mournfully at In the Pipeline, speculating that Geron might have kept at it if the results had been promising. Lowe says he thinks stem cells "are a worthy subject of research," but realizing gains will take many years and billions of dollars. At Ariadne, New Zealand blogger Robert Hickson recounts the myriad hopes and a few caveats for stem cell research, noting that therapies are already available for pets and there is also optimism about stem cells for regenerative medicine.
David Jensen's California Stem Cell Report trumpets proudly that it is "officially banned by California's stem cell agency." That would be the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which makes taxpayer-funded grants for research on stem cells, especially human embryonic cells. CIRM loaned Geron $25 million only last May in what apparently was a not-quite-open process that Jensen views with deep suspicion. Geron had only received $6.42 million so far, and CIRM says that amount has been paid back in full, with interest.
Pete Shanks sums up much stem-cell politics and ethical issues at Biopolitical Times.
TWO SOURCES FOR OVER-THE-TOP RHETORIC ABOUT THE GERON NEWS, ONE PRO, ONE CON. I suppose it's not surprising that a river of posts about the Geron decision has come from the Knoepfler Lab Stem Cell Blog at UC Davis. The blog expatiates on the virtues of stem cells, especially human embryonic stem cells, here.
Under the hed "Disaster," Geron's announcement is declared to be "a very sad day for stem cell science." Then the Knoepfler blog reports rumors about the organizations that might possibly take over the trial. Find more rumors here. Followed by a post on the future of the field, concluding that
I think there is no way to spin this as a good thing and in fact it is terrible news.
But then the anonymous Knoepfler blogger sucked it up, urging people not to give up hope for human embryonic stem cells.
Which is a response to the unchecked grandiloquence at David Granofsky's Stem Cell Blog. Although his post goes on and on and on, delirious with joy, this graf just about sums up his position:
While Geron and the US media, big Pharma, the AMA and the FDA have all given Embryonic stem cell their full throated support, the number of patients helped with adult stem cells is in the 10s of thousands while the number of patients helped by Embryonic stem cells in zero.
If the data are accurate — I haven't checked — he's got a point.
BLACK FRIDAY. I'll be traveling next week and so not writing. And anyway, you'll be shopping, right? See you in a couple of weeks.
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