Stem cell breakthrough uses no embryos

Stem cell breakthrough uses no embryos

news.yahoo.com

NEW YORK - Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It's a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice.

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I can see this as having both positive and negative outlooks, just like embryonic stem cells research. For one thing, this is a much easier way of creating stem cells, without having to harvest embryos, on the other hand, because they're changing the DNA of the skin cell, cancer is much easier to contract.

Could this be what the scientific community has been waiting for?

news.yahoo.com
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