That's my take. The mainstream press calls it "fraud" without a scrap of evidence as far as I know. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/business/Yoshiki-Sasai-an-author-of-discredited-stem-cell-study-is-found-dead.html "Why do Scientists Commit Fraud" http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/08/fraud_in_stem_cell_research_japanese_biologist_yoshiki_sasai_commits_suicide.html Here is what I wrote in the comment section: The accusations against Obokata are outrageous. Yes, there is some evidence she was sloppy, but there is absolute NO evidence she made a mistake or committed fraud. Her co-authors still support her. Sasaki left a message to her saying "I hope you can replicate." He still believed the results. I saw the NHK talk show "experts" attacking Obokata. They were ruthless. NHK's own tone was simply outrageous. They made everything look suspicious. They assumed fraud had been committed. They did the same thing in many previous "academic scandals" which were not a bit scandalous. These academic bullies have blood on their hands. If Obokata turns out to be right after all it will be all the more outrageous. I have edited and translated from Japanese hundreds of scientific papers. I have seen much sloppier ones. . . . Here is an example of NHK's previous shenanigans. Some researchers I know invited the NHK reporter to a funding meeting during a conference, at a restaurant. The reporter said he was busy. He and a film crew then secreted themselves near the meeting and took shaky, hand-held camera long distance shots of the professors and industry people going into the meeting. They broadcast this with the voice over claiming "here are researchers meeting with industry experts, preparing to shake down the government for funding." They made it look like a scandal. That was for cold fusion, which NHK, Nature and others despise. They are forever trying to make it look like a scandal, when all it is nothing more than peer-reviewed, mainstream conventional science published in boring journal papers. Hundreds and hundreds of boring papers. Believe me, I have read 3,000 of them and they are boring. Not scandalous. - Jed
