Mark Johnson of the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal has just published a three-part series on the global quest by stem cell scientists for pluripotent stem cells. The series, "Targeting the Good Cell," appeared in the Sentinel Journal on December 13-16. Based on 90 interviews with leading scientists, this is one of the best pieces of science journalism I have seen.
The story involves the question for the human pluripotent stem cell, which is capable of producing every cell type in the human body. In 1998, scientists achieved this long-sought goal, but did so by taking cells from embryos, something that is objectionable to many. More recently, scientists have found other ways to get cells to be pluripotent, and Johnson tells the tale as if it were the story of a great race.
In telling the story, he reminds us that science is hard work, that scientists are human, that they are motivated (like all of us) by many things, and that the result of their work is anything but predictable at the outset.
Journalism, too, can be hard work, and Johnson has done it well.
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