Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2176: Chapter 1429: Willful Blindness (Part 2)

"It’s not an issue of electrode placement," Clara said, "It’s the electrophysiological manifestation during the initial activation of progenitor cells, lasting at least four weeks, then mistakenly cleared as noise."

August discovered a set of immunohistochemistry images labeled as "nonspecific staining" in histological photographs. The original experiment aimed to label a specific neuron subtype, but scattered, irregularly shaped positive signals appeared in the damaged surrounding area. The conclusion at the time was "antibody cross-reaction, no biological significance." August placed those photographs side by side with tissue section photos of M21 on the screen.

"This is not a cross-reaction. This is a doublecortin positive signal. Although the antibody they used wasn’t intended to label doublecortin, it did cross-react because the concentration of doublecortin in the sample was sufficiently high, high enough for this antibody to non-specifically capture it."

Fritz found an earlier clue in the animal housing records. A monkey numbered M29 showed "unexplained hind limb movement" in the sixteenth week post-surgery, with the record stating: "M29 showed atypical postural adjustments in its hind limbs while moving in the cage. Possibly compensatory behavior, recommended for observation." After four weeks of observation with no further changes, the record was shelved. Fritz retrieved the behavioral footage, playing it frame by frame. It wasn’t compensatory behavior. It was intentional, purposeful hind limb extension, though brief and incomplete, qualitatively different from compensatory behavior.

The five individuals had accumulated more than thirty "overlooked discoveries." Each had appeared in the original data, each marked as "abnormal," "nonspecific," "suggested for exclusion," each archived, sealed, and forgotten.

Manstein stared at the aggregated table for a long time.

Weber’s team wasn’t lacking. On the contrary, they were very meticulous. Every experiment had complete process records, every abnormal value was carefully marked, and every "suggested for exclusion" had detailed analysis and discussion behind it. The issue wasn’t that they were careless; it was that they were too careful, assiduously following all experimental norms, identifying all abnormal signals, analyzing all possible interference factors, and then arriving at a serious conclusion: these signals aren’t real.

This conclusion was logically impeccable. Because the knowledge you learned tells you that spinal cord injury won’t spontaneously generate nerve repair, so when you see similar repair signals, the correct answer is "this isn’t repair."

This is the true meaning of "blindspot." It isn’t that your eyes can’t see, it’s that your brain doesn’t allow you to see. Recognizing a phenomenon requires not only seeing it but also knowing what it might be. Just like the tissue sections of M21, Manstein examined them many times before Fritz re-stained them, only seeing "abnormal cells." Odd in shape, odd in distribution, odd in quantity, but just "abnormal cells." Until the doublecortin staining results came out, those "abnormal cells" turned into "migrating neuronal precursor cells." The phenomenon didn’t change; what changed was the observer’s cognition.

On Friday afternoon, Manstein compiled all the discoveries into a report and sent it to Weber. The report had no title; the first page contained only one line: "Professor Weber, the answers have always been in your data; we just helped you to read them."

Weber’s reply arrived in the evening: "Manstein, when I previously said you were moving too fast, I was wrong. You weren’t moving too fast; you were moving ahead. The person ahead looks back at those trailing, and it seems like they are standing still."

Manstein read it several times and handed the phone to Yang Ping. Yang Ping read it once, said nothing, and returned the phone to him.

News of Weber’s shift spread faster than he had anticipated. A week later, Manstein received seven emails from laboratories across different countries. The most noticeable email came from the National Institutes of Health in the USA, sent by the project director of the Neurological Diseases Department, titled: "Regarding your recent findings, the NIH wishes to organize a workshop."

Manstein showed the email to Yang Ping. Yang Ping hardly hesitated: "You should go."

Manstein opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word. He knew Yang Ping was passing the spotlight to him. Yang Ping indeed did not care for these matters, not out of pretended aloofness, but genuinely felt they were unimportant. Academic conference honors, international recognition, industry status were of no value to him. He cared more about whether the experimental design was clean, the data repeatable, if mechanisms were thoroughly explained. Who gives the report, who accepts the award, whose name is listed first, he did not care.

"Alright, I’ll go."

The flight to the United States was a red-eye flight. Manstein chose a window seat, slept for a while, and woke to see the clouds outside the window ablaze in golden red by the morning light. He took out his laptop, reviewed the PPT from start to finish, altering a few phrases.

Upon arrival at NIH that afternoon, the report was scheduled for the final session, beginning at four-thirty. The venue was large, seating around three hundred people, gradually filling up. Attendees included not only NIH’s internal scientists but also those from surrounding universities, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, some drove for three hours.

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