The Japanese have formed a new process of making stem cells from skin cells. That is absolutely amazing!
That means new hope for thousands, if not millions of ppl and the prolifers won't have to be upset over the use of aborted fetuses. Absolutely amazing!!!

They turned them into cells that are *like* embryonic stem cells, but *aren't* stem cells, apparently.

Sounds like a great thing, but don't count your chickens yet

(It's also worth noting that a Google search turned up reports of similar breakthroughs back in 2005, and something similar by a US team recently. I'm not well-versed enough on the subject to tell what the difference is though.)


"So buying a PC is now, for me, almost a kind of masturbation, or some elaborate tool for masturbation, the sort of terrifying thing you might see after you've mistyped a URL." -Tycho

I'm glad about this and I hope it works, so that the damn pro-lifers will stop whinging.


www.revleft.com

can i get a link for this? thanks.

Here are some various related links:

link [www.yomiuri.co.jp]
link [www.reuters.com]
link [blog.bioethics.net]
link [www.forbes.com]


"So buying a PC is now, for me, almost a kind of masturbation, or some elaborate tool for masturbation, the sort of terrifying thing you might see after you've mistyped a URL." -Tycho

Not all of them did, but they've been standing in the way of medical progress, so now that it looks like we can get these stem cells from a less troubling source (from their POV) it'll mean more progress.


www.revleft.com

thanks for posting the links, J.

They still say that the new lines of embryonic stem cells are needed to further research.

Just saw a report on the news a couple of days ago where they are using skin cells in conjunction with tissue from pigs to grow new organs for people in the lab.

A guy who had the tip of his finger cut off, nail & all re-grew the entire finger tip including the nail in a matter of weeks!!!

Truly amazing.

It really is.

They were in the process of growing a new heart valve for one guy, & they had a complete new bladder for a woman.

They use the material from the pig as a mold or form, & then it sort of just disintegrates afterward.

Fifty years from now there will probably be custom replacement body part manufacturers.

The term "body shop" will have taken on a whole new meaning.

Stem cells can be collected from umbilical cords and unbilical blood. You don't necessarily have to abort fetuses to obtain stem cells.