YSM Issue 96.4
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2022<br />
Theranos: From A Single Drop To A Huge Flop<br />
In November 2022, Elizabeth Holmes, former<br />
CEO of infamous health tech company<br />
Theranos, was sentenced to over eleven years<br />
in prison for defrauding Theranos investors.<br />
Valued at ten billion dollars at the heights of<br />
its hype, Theranos claimed to have developed<br />
a blood test that could use just a single drop<br />
of blood to rapidly and accurately diagnose<br />
an array of health conditions. However, it was<br />
revealed shortly thereafter that Theranos had<br />
never in fact developed a functional blood test<br />
device, resulting in Holmes’ eventual arrest.<br />
1962<br />
Reversing Cellular Irreversibility<br />
1928<br />
The Serendipity of Penicillin<br />
In 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming noticed mold<br />
growing on his Petri dish on staphylococcus<br />
bacteria. Something seemed to prevent the<br />
surrounding bacteria from growing—which<br />
we now know to be penicillin. This accidental<br />
discovery paved the way for the rise of<br />
antibiotics and their therapeutic benefits.<br />
1912-1953<br />
The Paleontological Prank<br />
www.yalescientific.org<br />
Until the late 19th century, it was widely<br />
believed that cell differentiation was<br />
irreversible: a cell, once specialized,<br />
could not return to its original stem cell<br />
state. In 1962, John Gurgeon, among<br />
others, proved this wrong by defining<br />
the cell reprogramming technique,<br />
cloning frogs using nuclear transfer<br />
from differentiated cells, thus reversing<br />
differentiation.<br />
In 1911 and 1912, fossils discovered in<br />
Piltdown, England were believed to be<br />
those of the Piltdown Man, the missing link<br />
between apes and humans and the “earliest<br />
Englishman.” However, by 1953, it was<br />
discovered that the fossils were nothing but an<br />
elaborate forgery, involving a modern human<br />
skull and orangutan jawbone.<br />
In November 2017, the first annual Flat Earth<br />
International conference was held in Raleigh,<br />
North Carolina. Contrary to popular belief, the<br />
“scientific” theory that the Earth was flat rather<br />
than a sphere was most popular in the late 19th<br />
and early 20th century. Despite overwhelming<br />
(and obvious) evidence of Earth's spherical nature,<br />
a small, yet vocal, contingent of people continue to<br />
promote the theory of a flat Earth.<br />
In 1953, Watson and Crick famously<br />
announced their discovery of DNA’s double<br />
helix. Just earlier that year, though, chemist<br />
Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize<br />
winner, proposed that DNA comprised<br />
three intertwined strands, which we know<br />
today to be false. In stark contrast with the<br />
success of his model for protein structure,<br />
his DNA model was incorrectly built insideout,<br />
with three strands instead of two.<br />
Timeline<br />
SPECIAL<br />
2017<br />
Flat Earth Fanatics<br />
1998<br />
A Vexing Claim About Vaccines<br />
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield of the Royal Free<br />
Hospital School of Medicine published a study<br />
in The Lancet claiming that the measles, mumps,<br />
and rubella vaccine caused autism. The medical<br />
community quickly condemned the research<br />
study as clearly flawed in its design, and it was<br />
eventually retracted and declared fraudulent in<br />
2011. However, Wakefield remains a popular<br />
figure among the growing anti-vax movement.<br />
1953<br />
Pauling’s Triple Trouble<br />
1918-1926<br />
<strong>YSM</strong>’s “Troubled Years”<br />
The Yale Scientific Monthly, founded in 1894, was<br />
the predecessor to the Yale Scientific Magazine.<br />
While it took off in its early years, it faced its<br />
biggest hurdle in its 19th volume. The editorial<br />
board of the Monthly began focusing on student<br />
affairs at Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School. This<br />
choice diluted scientific content, until 1926, when the magazine was<br />
revived in its original vision as the Yale Scientific Magazine, which<br />
launched in 1927. The period from 1918 to 1926 has been dubbed by<br />
<strong>YSM</strong>’s Wikipedia page as “The Troubled Years.”<br />
December 2023 Yale Scientific Magazine 7