Science journal retracts 2010 paper on bacterium
Science on Thursday withdrew the work on a bacterium that was published by a team of researchers from NASA and other organizations in 2010.
The paper claimed that a bacterium collected in a saline lake in California could grow by using arsenic, which is highly toxic.
At the time, NASA held a news conference and said the finding was a major achievement that would alter biology textbooks.
The work attracted challenges by other researchers, and created controversy and criticism after their attempts to replicate it failed.
The Science journal's editors said they believe that the key conclusion of the paper is based on flawed data.
However, they expressed the view that there was no deliberate fraud or misconduct on the part of the authors.
The editors noted that "Science's standards for retracting papers have expanded." They added, "If the editors determine that a paper's reported experiments do not support its key conclusions, even if no fraud or manipulation occurred, a Retraction is considered appropriate."
The paper's authors have reacted sharply against the decision by the journal, saying, "We disagree with this standard, which extends beyond matters of research integrity."
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