Scientific Fraud

One year ago, as Science was assembling its 2005 Breakthrough of the Year issue, the need for a last-minute change became uncomfortably clear. A shadow was creeping across one of this journal's landmark papers, in which a team of South Korean and American researchers, led by Woo Suk Hwang at Seoul National University, claimed to have created the first-ever human embryonic stem cell lines that matched the DNA of patients. After anonymous allegations of irregularities in that paper appeared on a Korean Web site, South Korean authorities launched an investigation. As the story unfolded, Science's news editors hastily pulled an item about the Hwang achievements from the issue's roster of runners-up.