The British papers are as-ploding with stem cell research news today. (Okay, maybe not as-ploding, but there's two articles, which appears to be two more than I've seen on US -based news sources, mmmm-kay?)
The Guardian tells us that the varying levels of political and ethical opposition to stem cell research has not seemed to cripple it. Since 2000, over 3,000 patents pertaining to stem cell research have been filed worldwide. Interestingly, the US has filed the most patents, but the majority of the US patents are being driven by the University of California, which sort of tempers the surprise. As a percentage of the world-wide total patents, embryonic stem cell research, the most quarrelled-over, constituted a quarter.
Meanwhile, over at the Independent, they report that British scientists have grown both egg and sperm cells from stem cells. The article points out that some have suggested this technique may be too similar to human cloning for complete comfort, but the scientists responsible for the research have rejected such complaints. And they also raised the possibility that this might give rise to the oh-so-weird possibility of a single male being used to create both the egg and the sperm cell, thus making that person the resulting childs mother and father. Ook!
"Who's my daddy? My mommy, actually."
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1 comment:
That would be a really messy situation if you tried to divorce yourself.
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