Sometimes the retraction of a paper can be as noteworthy as the publication of one. Here we list some of the take-backs of 2010 that left the biomedical community most taken aback.

In February, days after the UK General Medical Council censured the unethical behavior of gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, The Lancet retracted his notorious 1998 paper that first linked autism with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

In August, less than a month after Virology Journal first published an opinion paper speculating that a biblical woman supposedly healed by Jesus actually had influenza, the journal’s editor apologized for running the article, noting the authors did not provide “robust supporting data” for their hypothesis. Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong had used symptoms described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke to diagnose the mother-in-law of the apostle Simon Peter, who lay sick in bed before being miraculously “cured by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(Click here to continue reading)

Image by dingler1109 via Flickr Creative Commons