Blood Cells Converted Into Chemical Sensors

I guess we've reached the point where the "science media" can't even wait for papers to be published, let alone accumulate a few references, before they push a one-sided synopsis they gleaned from a couple of phone calls with real scientists to a blog...
For those of you who studied CS, Chemistry works a bit differently in that publishing papers is a far, far, faaaar greater hurdle than getting a talk accepted at a conference. Half of what you hear at a big, national meeting like ACS will never be published; less in reputable journals. The way things used to work, before "science journalists" started competing with each other to see who could "break a story" the fastest, is that a paper was peer reviewed and published and then it sat in a journal for a while. The second, and more important step, is other people citing that work as they try to reproduce/use/build on it. Only after it has garnered a fair number of citations will it be considered both interesting and relevant. (That is not to say that people fabricate results, just that some chemistry is more difficult to reproduce.)

Ten years ago, you framed the cover art if your paper made it on the cover of a journal. Your university might do a press release if you cured cancer or something. Now (American) universities have whole PR departments (the ever-expanding "administrative" part of university that sucks up your kid's tuition) that basically feed "news" about articles that will be published to "journalists" who then Google a couple of keywords to figure out who they should call for a comment--you know, two sources--after they speak with one of the authors. (But don't worry, their degree in Basic Science or Biology totally qualifies them to write about anything involving a lab coat.) Then they write up some non-information-containing fluff that doesn't even point the reader at the actual, published work (due to policies of the publishers). So what are we supposed to do with this information that is basically a summary of the BS you write in the Introduction about why your work is the bees knees? I mean, this "story" is a summary of the part of a yet-to-be-published paper that referees basically glance at to make sure they cited all the Big Names before they move on to the actual science. In reality, the researchers probably just proved the concept using green fluorescent dyes, as NIR dyes have low quantum yields and are not common because of some fundamental problems involved in fluorescence above 800 nm. But what I know from this story is that NIR light can pass through tissue (sort of; it's not like we're invisible at 1200 nm or something) and that some scientists did something with fluorescence in red blood cells.

I am all for publicizing the results of taxpayer money vis-a-vis university researchers, but this kind of hyperbolic nonsense that doesn't even link back to the actual published results just creates unrealistic expectations from laymen. "I read an article on using blood cells as sensors like two years ago, why do I still have to prick my finger to measure my glucose levels? Stupid scientists--what good are they?"

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/UQ4EAlBDek8/blood-cells-converted-into-chemical-sensors

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