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Fetuses Provide Stem-Like Cells to Mothers

Posted by timothy on from the hedged-language-until-proven dept.

Flatline5150 writes "Excerpt from this article on Boston.com: 'Many a pregnant woman has moments when her fetus seems like a little parasite, all take, take, take. But new research suggests that a fetus may also be giving back a lifelong gift: cells that appear to act like stem cells, migrating to diseased organs in the mother and trying to fix them.'"

2 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So this means... by isn't+my+name · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, it means I have something to throw back at my mother the next time she starts into her "I carried you in my womb for nine months. . . " routine.

  2. Re:Exciting by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >>Many a pregnant woman has moments when her fetus seems like a little parasite, all take, take, take.
    >That seems to be the most offensive viewpoint I think a parent could take towards their child. Surely they could have come up with a better description? The rest of the article is pretty upbeat about mothers, but starting the article off like that is really offensive.

    Offensive to you only because of your insistence on moralizing a morally neutral phenomenon. In placental mammals, the fetus is parasitic on the mother. There's nothing offensive about that. It simply is the way it is. Your religious viewpoint is leading you to ascribe pejorative values to a biological term that has none.
    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.