So, there already was a stem cell thread, but that was about politics more than stem cell research in itself. Obama seems more stem cell friendly than his predecessor and although such research goes on in many countries, it's nice to see support for this research again in the US.
If you don't know what stem cell research is, I can do a quick, simplified summary. An embryo in the earliest stages of development is little more than a lump of cells. The cells haven't been given a job yet - and a job could be to be a skin cell, a muscle cell, blood cell, brain cell, liver cell - you get the idea. At that point before the cell has been given a job, it has the potential to become any cell in the body. It is a stem cell. As our bodies develop, we lose our stem cells as they develop into the kind of working cells our bodies consist of. Stem cell research is research into producing such stem cells to use them to replace damaged cells in the body. The best source for such stem cells is aborted fetuses which is where the ethical dilemma comes in.
So the question is how do you feel about it? Does it excite or infuriate any of you?
Me? I'm very excited of course
I have quite bad hearing loss, particularly in my right ear, from exposure to loud sounds and there was an episode with a rifle shot that was just a bit too close to the ear which I don't want to get into details about, but .. there's good reason to believe my and other's hearing problems will be curable by stem cells in a couple of decades time if not earlier.
I'm actually assuming there'll be stem cells treatment for alzheimer when I get old although I could probably benefit from a stem cell injection in the brain now already.
