It's quite a sight to see a man rise to the very pinnacle of his vocation and then come falling back down to earth, disgraced, humbled and with his tail between his legs. Things would be infinitely worse if the arena where all this happened was one filled with back-biting and intrigue, such as the world of Science .
That's exactly what happened to Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk. Once heralded as the foremost expert in the field of the vital stem cell research, Hwang took an oh-so-public fall from grace when some of his most important and ground-breaking work was proven to be nothing more than a fraud.
Hwang first rose to prominence in 1999 when he and his team of scientists announced in a span of a few months that they had successfully cloned three dairy cows and reported greater facility and improved technique in stem cell cloning each time. His announcements were met with great rejoicing each time as the Korean public glowed at the promise of "immeasurable economic prospects" in the future.
But the really big news for Hwang would come in February 2004 when he announced that his team had created an embryonic stem cell using the somatic cell nuclear transfer method. Stem cells are like all-purpose cells that are vital in the cloning process since they are compatible with all organs. Having this kind of technology meant that man had moved a step forward in human cloning technology, specially since this was previously believed to be impossible. Hwang's research was published in the prestigious Nature magazine and a new star in the world of science was born.
By May 2005, Hwang had even better news: his team had now successfully created 11 embryonic stem cells. It was impressive news and it indicated that Hwang had made tremendous strides in his research in a brief period of time.
Along the way, Hwang even unveiled one of his favorite creations, a cloned Afghan dog named Snuppy, and you could hear whispers about Hwang as possible being one of the greatest scientific minds of all time. Time magazine pronounced Snuppy as its "Invention of the Year" for 2005.
However, before the year was over drastic events would take place that would turn Hwang's world upside down. It was revealed that his work was a fraud. One of his team members even announced publicity that Hwang "admitted to fabrication." Hwang promptly disappeared from the public eye and is reportedly ill at home. He is now facing trial for "embezzlement and bioethics law violations."
Long Fall Back To Earth
This fall, now that kids are back in school, is a great time to focus on yourself and get back into some healthy habits or start a healthier lifestyle for the first time! Even if you don't have kids, fall is a good time to start making positive changes in your life.
More than anything else the amount and quality of sleep I get seems to affect my health the most. If I don't get enough sleep I don't function well at all. And when I do sleep well - I feel great in the morning.
One of the most obvious things you can do to help you sleep at night is to avoid caffeine late in the day (or completely). Other things that may help include not eating for a couple of hours before your planned bed time.
Drinking too many liquids close to bedtime may result in interruptions of your sleep if you end up having to use the bathroom much in the middle of the night. On the other hand a modest volume of warm milk may help some people to relax.
If outside noise keeps you from falling or staying asleep you may want to try a white noise generator. Many of these have different settings to choose from including rain and other nature sounds.
Exercising too close before bed can also have different effects on different people. For some it can make it harder to relax, some it may put right to sleep.
It can also be helpful to start turning lights off or down a couple of hours before you go to bed too. Be aware that for some people even looking at a computer monitor or T.V. before trying to fall asleep can cause problems. You may need to experiment a little and try not eating/no T.V. etc. for different amounts of time before you want to sleep to see what works best for you.
A sleep diary may be helpful for this. You can keep a little notebook and write what activities you did close to bedtime and keep track of whether or not you slept well each night.
This can be especially useful since everyone is different and what works for one person may not for another.
Once you have improved your sleep quality - improving your diet is a great second step in living a healthier life!
Both Jonathon Hardcastle & Trisha M. are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jonathon Hardcastle has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide, Careers and Job Hunting and Cooking Tips. Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including , , an. Jonathon Hardcastle's top article generates over 368000 views. to your Favourites.
Trisha M. has sinced written about articles on various topics from Stress Management, Environment and Nutrition. Trisha M. has a B.S. in Psychology and a M.S. in Biochemistry and writes about numerous topics in and science. She maintains and writes a. Trisha M.'s top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.
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