An eggsample of why it is hard to prove a negative

Earlier this year, a paper claimed to have found cells, called ovarian stem cells, in the adult ovaries of both mice and humans. These cells could apparently be grown in large numbers in the lab and could retain the ability to give rise to eggs. A new study finds no evidence for the existence of germline progenitors able to produce eggs in postnatal ovaries. Is a lack of evidence sufficient to win the argument?... [Read More]

Hype, hope and heresy – or why it is bad to eggsaggerate

I am all for challenging dogma, but to do so requires robust evidence and carefully drawn conclusions. In the case of Professor Jonathan Tilly's much-trumpeted study on stem cells in ovaries that can give rise to eggs, I feel that both were missing... [Read More]

'High-quality research is effectively being vetoed'

Austin Smith and I, with support from Peter Lawrence, gave interviews to Pallab Ghosh for BBC News where we raised several issues about the peer review and editorial processes of high-profile journals dealing with stem cell research papers. We went as far as saying that some high-quality research is effectively being vetoed from publication by a few powerful scientists, in some cases to deliberately to stifle their competition. Moreover, these journals have also published some papers that hav... [Read More]