Thoughts on Stem Cell?

I wish they would put all their power and money into something worth curing like Alzheimer's, spinal cord damage, blindness, anything that will enable people to be more independent. Deafness is not that serious the hearing people like to make it out to be. They have to realize that they are handicapping us by refusing to learn sign language.

Yes, Jillio, better education for the deaf would be good, too.
 
Buffalo said:
I wish they would put all their power and money into something worth curing like Alzheimer's, spinal cord damage, blindness, anything that will enable people to be more independent. Deafness is not that serious the hearing people like to make it out to be. They have to realize that they are handicapping us by refusing to learn sign language.

Yes, Jillio, better education for the deaf would be good, too.
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I know a few independent blind people that would say that deafness would need to be cured for deaf people to be more independent. :)

I dont see why we can't take a cell from anywhere. Every one of them have a complete copy of the DNA used to make the being. I'm guessing it's just a matter of medical knowledge that holds us back. We'll learn. :)
 
doh said:
I know a few independent blind people that would say that deafness would need to be cured for deaf people to be more independent. :)

I dont see why we can't take a cell from anywhere. Every one of them have a complete copy of the DNA used to make the being. I'm guessing it's just a matter of medical knowledge that holds us back. We'll learn. :)
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We talk about stem cells in Biology class a lot for general interest. My understanding is yes- every cells from anywhere has a complete copy of the DNA but in most cells most of the DNA is turned off so a skin cell doesn't act like a heart cell or kidney cell, or a lung cell doesn't act like a muscle cell. Stem cells don't have all these genes turned off and can become any cell like a skin cell, heart cell, kidney cell etc.

But stem cells from embryos is a hot topic. Now the big advance is scientists figure out how a regular cell from adult into a stem cell like from the embryo. In class we discuss Dr. James Thompson. He was the scientist who first discovered the way to make stem cells divide in labs. Now he discover how to make regular adult cell into stem cell - no embryo so not a hot topic about abortion etc.

From The New York Times: Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It

Stem cells, universal cells that can turn into any of the body’s 220 cell types, normally emerge only fleetingly after a few days of embryo development. Scientists want to use them to study complex human diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s in a petri dish, finding causes and treatments. And, they say, it may be possible to use the cells to grow replacement tissues for patients.

The problem until now had been the source of the cells — human embryos.

The topic, says R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin ethicist, “took on an almost iconic quality the same way Roe v. Wade has.”

And on Tuesday, Dr. Thompson's laboratory was one of two that reported a new way to turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without ever using a human embryo.

Now with the new technique, which involves adding just four genes to ordinary adult skin cells, it will not be long, he says, before the stem cell wars are a distant memory. “A decade from now, this will be just a funny historical footnote,” Dr. Thomson said in the interview.

I am very excited about the research.
 
I believe that God allowed disability to happened in order to teach/test other people. Unfortunally, some people flunk the test.
 
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