The 140 character stem cell definition challenge

Who was it that said “there are no original ideas”? The same person, perhaps, that said “great minds think alike”?

Last week, we initiated a stem cell definition challenge via Twitter, asking followers to send their answers in 140 characters or less. While I didn’t think this was a truly original idea, had I done a little checking I would have discovered that EuroStemCell had done something similar just a month ago (those Europeans are so progressive — if you haven’t yet seen the incredible graphic story released there a couple weeks ago, it’s well worth checking out!)

Here’s a shortlist of some of tweets that went out and were shared:

 We also received this creative definition via direct message from @KeriKimler on May 29:

And finally, because we suggested it and no-one dared send us a stem cell haiku, here’s our own:

raw cells undefined
self renewal infinite
choosing fate to heal

I’m pretty sure that definition is one-of-a-kind.

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Lisa Willemse

Lisa is a science communicator with 15+ years' experience in the fields of regenerative medicine, child development and technology. She launched this blog (first as the Stem Cell Network Blog) in 2009, and served as co-editor until April 2015. She is currently the Director, Communications & Public Affairs for the Stem Cell Network, and has contributed to Motherboard, Science Borealis and the Genome Alberta and Canadian Blood Services blogs. Follow her on Twitter and Medium @WillemseLA.

Latest posts by Lisa Willemse (see all)

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