Stem cell work, including that published by a team including Haruko Obokata, is subjected to intense scrutiny (Image: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images) From “paradigm changer” to “sloppy and irresponsible“. In just two months, two papers revealing a simple way to turn adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells went from being heralded as ground-breaking to being investigated over their credibili

Was it all too good to be true? Concerns have been raised over a paper that claims to have turned adult cells into stem cells with just a 30-minute dip in acid. An investigation has been launched by RIKEN in Japan into the research results of one of their members of staff – Haruko Obokata. At the end of last month, Obokata and her colleagues published two papers in the journal Nature showing that