LOS ANGELES -- The people of South Korea have responded to the stem-cell scandal involving genius-innovator Hwang Woo Suk with admittedly excessive passion and near-unanimous conviction. Still, by rallying around their amazing Seoul National University pioneer, their support should be a comfort to risk-taking scientists all over the world.
Safe science is not always the best science. This is especially the case with technically tricky and sometimes ethically complex work, such as stem-cell research. It's true that at the end of the day the benefits of the research may prove disappointing. But you don't know until you find out. Hwang is obviously for trying to find out: No guts, no paradigm shift, no glory.
This South Korean veterinarian astonished the world in 2004 when his Seoul laboratory produced the first cloned embryonic stem cells from adult human patients. Hwang and his team at Seoul National University led a global pack of scientists in search of ways of approaching crushing human diseases such as Parkinson's. Time magazine took note of Hwang's cloning of the world's first dog, "Snuppy," by naming it invention of the year.