A different view- Alicia L.

After completing the introduction and chapter one, I realized that even scientists can turn a blind eye to the fact that not all information that is said to be true, is actually true. I understand that it’s easy to use what they already have and work off of that and that money is limited, but from reading just the preface and first chapter, I also understand that taking the easy way out can lead to more than just lost money. I was surprised to learn that most biomedical studies are false. For example, in 1999 and 2000 scientists claimed that bone marrow cells could transform themselves into live, brain, and other organ cells. This was called “transdifferentiation”,  and it caused mass hysteria when many scientists dropped what they were doing to work on this discovery. In 2002, Amy Wagers came to the conclusion that “transdifferentiation” was “not a typical function” of normal stem cells, but of course this was neglected by other researchers because they didn’t want to believe that this “discovery” was not what they needed it to be. In the media, scientific research is outstanding and well acknowledged. In the book, it is made to look like it can’t be trusted and it is just a waste of money and time. Considering this, I think the title, “Rigor Mortis” suits the book very well. A recent article about bio-engineering human livers was published on June 14th. After reading this first section, I am not very skeptical about it. I actually believe it because of the book. In the article, it mentions that they discovered previously unknown information, this leads me to believe that they were not working off of false information. I used to think that scientists did everything possible to have no errors, but when I read just the beginning of this book, I learned that sometimes they are just unaware that the information given to them is false or they made a mistake, but there are other times when they will ignore the problem areas so they can move on with their research. This is not only unfair but it will misguide other researchers and not end successfully. This book has caught my attention, and hopefully the attention of others because it tells a very important message that not many people believe or are aware of. Knowledge such as this is essential to know, because in this time period almost anything can be made up, like how fidget spinners help relieve symptoms of ADHD and autism.