Interesting developments in biology.

[TheHeretic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16788809

So some bonds have managed to utilize skin cells to convert, (no idea the terminology that would be correct here), into brain cells. So I wonder what the medical benefits would be? Could it be used in degenerative brain diseases, etc? Of course it also brings to the fore the question, again, of stem cells and the harvesting of.

Personally, I am all forgot. The benefits seem to far outweigh any shortsighted ethical opinions.

[TheHeretic]

I've given up proofreading. It interferes with the amount of time I can devote to chocolate hobnobs.

[TheHeretic]

Flat_Steve said:

What ethical costs?

The argument about harvesting stem cells.

[TheHeretic]

Flat_Steve said:

If they were embryonic stem cells then yes, there'd be ethical concerns, however the OP's article refers to changing skin cells into stem cells, hence no ethics involved.

Article said:

One of the big questions for the field is where to get the cells from. There are ethical concerns around embryonic stem cells and patients would need to take immunosuppressant drugs as any stem cell tissue would not match their own.