The other research reports that cells surprisingly similar to embryonic stem cells can be isolated from people's bone marrow.

I have heard rumors through the science grapevine that the stem cells isolated from people's bone marrow isn't as useful as true embryonic stem cells, although I don't know why that would be, other than the fact that they are adult stem cells, not embryonic. Interesting article forwarded to me by Jeremy.

Scientists Make Two Stem Cell Advances

Nexia CEO: "Oh, it's not that weird. What we're doing here is ingeniously simple. We take a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider and put it into a goat egg. The idea is to make the goat secrete spider silk into its milk. ... We're going to make biodegradable fishing lines out of it. Or maybe tennis racket strings. We call our product BioSteel."

Got Silk?

"In the Brave New World, erotic sexual activity is encouraged and freely practised but completely divorced from the process of reproduction. Huxley wrote his novel in 1932, before the contraceptive pill had arrived. By the 1970s, however, sex and reproduction had branched into two separate realms, thanks, in large part, to the pill. It is also interesting to note that the pill made its debut at about the same time that researchers first began to use artificial insemination on a wide scale. While the pill revolutionised sex, removing it from the process of reproduction, artificial insemination, then later in vitro fertilisation, egg donation, surrogacy and, soon, cloning further separate the components of reproduction from the biological act of mating. The artificial womb completes the process. "

See, I think we need artifical wombs, but not for these reasons. We need artifical wombs so that when babies are born prematurely, they still have a chance to develop and live.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | The end of pregnancy

SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) -- Scientists
expect to publish next year the complete
sequence of the human genome, a
development that could revolutionize
medicine, the head of a leading genome
research organization has said.

"It will be completed in 2003," said Lap-Chee
Tsui, president of the Human Genome
Organization (HUGO), who was in Shanghai for
a four-day human genome conference.

CNN.com - Human genome map 'ready in 2003' - April 15, 2002

Genetically modified bacteria that take up residence in your mouth to do away with cavities. May sound gross at first, but trust me as a biology major when I say that you have LOTS of bacteria all over you including your mouth right now. Sounds cool to me. Lets do away with those dentist drills.

New Scientist - GM bacteria may banish tooth decay

"Biology is just exploding out there. We're actually reaching a level where you find yourself imagining questions that a year ago you couldn't even formulate. There's a whole realm out there of biological materials that have been developing because nature has needed to produce them. If you work on something for about a billion years, you can be sure it's going to work pretty well. "

An interesting interview with Susan Lindquist

Biomaterial World

Holy shit....this is a HUGE deal. If these cells actually turn out to be functional, then WOW....this takes my breath away its so exciting.

New Scientist - Ultimate Stem Cell Discovered

"The purpose of these nanoparticles is to introduce a new type of therapy -- to actually go inside individual cells ... and repair them, or, if there's a lot of damage, to get rid of those cells," explains James Leary of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Leary is leading the research along with Stephen Lloyd, and Massoud Motamedi, also from the University of Texas; Nicholas Kotov of Oklahoma State University; and Yuri Lvov of Louisiana Tech University.

See, this is really rad stuff...if things like this ever do really work, our whole world of medicine will be transformed. My question is, what are they doing to prevent an immune response when they inject these little capsules into the bloodstream? Because unless they program them to look like "self" to someones immune cells, people will have nasty immune responses to these little things. It will be like an allergic reaction from hell.

Voyage of the Nano-Surgeons

Viruses like HIV and Ebola are enabling researchers at the University of Pennsylvania to construct effective tools for gene therapy. Carefully combined and modified, these dangerous viruses could one day become an integral part of live-saving treatments for serious genetic disorders.

See Tom....this is what I was discussing with you over Thanksgiving break....this is extremely cutting edge, and very cool. Definitly check out this article. This is the very reason that I asked for a book on genetically engineering viruses for christmas:) (evil grin)

Attaching Good Genes to Bad Viruses

Sweating....it keeps you cool AND it kills bacteria!!!

New Scientist