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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

regenerate your happiness.

Ever since I went to a conference in Korea, where I was treated to presentations of some of the local research, I have a tendency to view Asian research with a slightly more critical eye. That's not to say Asian research isn't good, but that it appears to cover a wide range of qualities - from absolutely top quality research right down to the "I can't believe they tried that" type.

Unfortunately, I think the propensity for "cuteness" that seems to be a part of some Asian cultures also doesn't translate into English well. Rather than tickling my sense of cuteness, it just leaves me wondering if they take their work seriously.

What brought me to this topic, today, was an email I received announcing a Stem-cell and regenerative medicine conference in China, which I assume is a serious affair. However, whatever seriousness it has is in stark contrast to the theme it was given: "Re-creation of Life, Reconstruction of Happiness." I mean, how do you really take a conference seriously with a title like that? This sounds, to me, like a gathering of people who are interested in cloning your pet cat, and charging you $15,000 for a kitten. (Guarantees of happiness not included.)

If you're interested in reconstructing your happiness, the conference is the BIT Life Sciences' 1st Annual World Congress of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell (RMSC-2008). The link provided doesn't seem to be working for me.

(Update: I took a look at the google cache version of the BIT Life Sciences web page, and I actually don't think they're a real organization. For instance, I think the Recommendations on their web page are fake - I doubt the people at Novartis, UC Irvine and Pfizer all write letters with typical Chinese grammatical mistakes.)

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