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Biologists Find Stem-Cell-Like Functions In Ordinary Cells
mattrandy123 writes with news that scientists from NYU and Utrecht University have discovered ordinary plant cells can fulfill some of the same regenerative functions previously attributed to stem cells. Quoting:
"In the study, the researchers cut off the plant's root tip, thereby excising the stem cell niche, and examined the return of cell identities by measuring all gene activity. The results suggested that stem cells returned quite late in regeneration after other cells were already replaced. The researchers then used mutant plants in which the stem cell niche no longer functions to confirm their initial observations. Despite the absence of the stem cell niche, the plant's ordinary cells worked to regenerate all the major tissues constituting the root tip — a process that began hours after it had been removed. However, researchers found that plants without functional stem cell niches could not resume normal growth, showing that other cells did not replace all functions of stem cells."
How much of this research transfers over to the animal kingdom?
It's great that GWB coerced researchers to find alternate sources of stem cells, otherwise every walk-in clinic in the country would be blending embryos in the back room by now. Tom Dickson would be proud.
Once it obtains DNA other than that of my own, I have no right to destroy it, without their permission.
Apparently you haven't heard of viruses.
A female can take a pill and destroy the egg without harm as it is part of her body.
You may have to rethink that position once human cloning becomes available.
The fact that most people disagree with the Iraq war because of the collateral damage,...
Many of the people most adamantly opposed to abortion still think the Iraq war was a good thing. But it doesn't matter whether it was the Iraq war or any other war: innocent people always end up getting killed by both sides. Only absolute pacifists can claim to be opposed to all killing of innocent people.
...if we don't define what a living human is, there is nothing really stopping me from killing you for no particular reason and just telling your family "Oh, but he wasn't a human, so it's all cool!"
First, it's not clear that you would want to kill me. That there might be reason enough.
Second, what if I don't want to be killed. What if my friends and relatives don't want me to be killed. What if even random people on the street don't want me to be killed? Isn't that adequate reason?
I mean, why is it that you don't take a crap on my family's dinner table? First, because you probably don't want to yourself and, second, because they don't want you to either.
The problem with abortion is that the embryo doesn't have an opinion, the mother (who actually has to be pregnant) wants the embryo dead and some random strangers want the embryo alive (and the mother to be pregnant). What really causes problems is that some random strangers want the embryo alive even when it consists of just a single cell - most random strangers only start to care when the embryo resembles a baby but a few random strangers take the extreme position of (claiming) to care about a single cell.
Sure, it would be nice if we could have a nice little absolute rule about never ending human life but the world we live in isn't like that: it's very messy and complicated.