Who says good news isn't sexy?

PARALYSED MAN WALKS AGAIN


"You'll never walk again" is probably what the poor guy with the severed spinal cord was told. Yet due to the cleverness of a Polish stem cell research unit combined with the dexterity of the neurosurgical team at UCL, that may turn out to be wrong.
Throughout my medical career a severed spinal cord has been accepted as the end of the story for those patients unlucky enough to experience such a terrible injury. But what was impossible only a few years ago is more than possible: it has actually happened.


"Maybe more important than a man walking on the Moon" is how the chief surgeon at UCL described it and I honestly believe this is no hyperbole. This development in medical science is little short of earth shattering, and should give pause for thought to those around the world, especially in the U.S. who continue to oppose stem cell research. It now seems there may be no limit to the miracles that may come to be over the next few years if the research is encouraged, rather than buried, as certain people on the "religious right" still call for.


PISTORIUS: THE SENTENCE


Some months ago I said in this blog that I didn't believe OP was guilty of deliberate murder, but that he had acted like a gung-ho, trigger happy gun nut. And after a long, but continuously fascinating trial, that was the conclusion of the court. Judge Masipa (and how strange is it for people of our age to see a black woman in South Africa exerting the power of the state over a wealthy, well connected white man?) gauged public opinion with enormous care before delivering her sentence and has, as I see it, gauged it to perfection. Even Reeva's family approved; there has been no appeal from OP's legal team and I suspect around the world people are saying: "That's about right".


 He had to go to jail for recklessly causing the death of an innocent human being, but the fact that he will only serve about 10 months inside (as long as he doesn't shoot anyone else in the meantime) seems absolutely appropriate. Justice has been done, and seen to be done. Well done South Africa! At last, you have something to teach the world about fairness.