Saint: Windpipe Builders In June a dream team of doctors and researchers saved the life of a tracheal cancer patient by performing the first artificial windpipe transplant. Alexander Seifalian of University College London built a scaffold for the windpipe out of plastic and nanomaterials, Harvard Bioscience grew tissue on the scaffold using the patient’s stem cells, and Swedish surgeon Paolo Macchiarini aced the transplant.
Sinner: Edwin Hubble A new paper alleges that the astronomer credited with discovering the expansion of the universe censored the work of rival Georges Lemaître, who had come up with the same idea two years prior. Historian David Block argues for a Lemaître Space Telescope to finally give the Belgian astronomer his due.
Saint: N.E.D.. (No Evidence of Disease) In June the rock band N.E.D., made up of six gynecologic oncologists, released its second album, Six Degrees. The band members use their music to raise awareness of the deadly cancers (ovarian, uterine, and cervical) that they treat in their day jobs.
Sinners: 3 Harvard Psychiatrists In July Harvard disciplined Joseph Biederman, Thomas Spencer, and Timothy Wilens for neglecting to mention that they had accepted more than $4.2 million from drug companies to support their research. The doctors said their mistakes were “honest ones.”
