During the last few weeks, the stem cell scandal not only has raised numerous speculations about what had happened in Dr. Hwang Woo Suk’s lab, but also has caused much agony among Korean science community.

The scandal is indeed a big deal. Thousands of reports on Dr. Hwang’s case are floating around in the Google. Thus, I will summarize three key points briefly.

First, is there an ethical lapse if Dr. Hwang knowingly used his junior researchers’ eggs? The consensus is that this behavior is inappropriate, to say the least.

Second, did Dr. Hwang fabricate data for the stunning paper published in the June 17 issue of Science? Again, it seems that the paper did miss some information about several stem cell lines, as accused by Roh Sung Il and the Seoul National University.

Third, is there any truth in Dr. Hwang’s words? I think there might be. He might indeed master the technique which can efficiently transfer a nuclear from a patient somatic cell to a nuclear-free donor egg cell. But he might not be able to repeat the experiment in other cell lines due to uncontrollable factors, or, other cell lines did exist but died before he could do any analyses. I think this is why he insisted that he did produce the stem cells, and promised that he could repeat the experiment within 10 days.

Sadly, time has run out. The Seoul National University locked his lab for further investigation. We will see the results very soon.

But I am not interested in Dr. Hwang’s fate or Korean reaction etc. I am more concerned about the hidden causes that motivate a researcher to engage misconducts. I think In Dr. Hwang’s case, pressure to success and lust for fame lure him to the evil side.

After his first Science paper published last year, Dr. Hwang was instantly in the spotlight of news media. Both Korean people and government expected him to do more and even to win the Nobel Prize. He had to produce more and better research to impress his people and the science community.

Further, I learned from my Korean colleagues that Dr. Hwang is a man good at manipulating politics. He had secured a solid finance support for his research. His ambition, and the Korean government’s ambition too, was to lead the world on stem cell research. He would do anything to make his lab look good, thus attracting more money and fame.

It is unfortunate that his dream busted before it realizes.

The damage is tremendous. For Korean science community, its reputation has been marred deeply. It would take some time for Korean people to recover from this incidence.

For the stem cell research itself, the damage is even bigger. Opponents may use this case to suggest that scientists are not trustworthy at all, and the lack of morality among researchers in foreign countries is pervasive. More importantly, Dr. Hwang’s failure may mislead the common people to believe that science is fraudulent.

Can science self-correct itself? Many start to doubt it, but I believe science can correct itself. Dr. Hwang’s case in fact illustrates this point. Any research, no matter how glamorous it is, is still subjected to scrutinize by peers. It is through this way that we don’t miss any great breakthrough, but also remain cautious about them. The science community, including ethical critics and science “police,” ensure that the whole community is healthy and viable.

A leap forward is not easy to make, but science will move forward regardless of mishaps along the road.