[quotient]

That's amazing. I really hope that more research is done in (stem) cells. It shows outstanding promise, and it seems safe to assume that this is just the start for a technique of treatments that revolutionizes the way we view and treat illness.

Edit: The article did not mention stem cells, but I think stem cells will inevitably be discussed in this thread as they're a very closely related topic, hence the mention.

[ajuc]

Re stem cells - my sister is a vet, she says currently animals get much better treatment than people because stem cells are experimental for people, but routinely used on animals, and the effects are astonishing.

She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways.

I don't know if it's true, I hope it is because it means it will eventually be used on regular people as well.

[tim333]

I think it's a shame that this kind of experimentation is not done in a way that maximises the well being of mankind. Paralysed rats were sucessfully got to walk again at least as early as 2003 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8e2qsAVGc) and it would seem to make sense to experiment on the odd human but instead we have to wait decades I think at least partly to cover the regulators arses in case there are any problems. But it would be better for society to have the odd experimental problem than thousands people suffer for years while they muck about with paperwork and the like.

I see from Wikipedia that Geron Corporation have recently submitted 28,000 pages of documents to the FDA for a stem cell related trial so maybe in 2023 or some such we'll be able to do for people what we could do for rats in 2003.

[mason240]

>She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways.

No conspiracy, they are all using HGH. Someone did some analysis on the shortened recovery times for players with ligament tears (like ACLs) and found that while the recovery times have always been getting shorter thanks to improvements in physical therapy, but the there was a dramatic drop at about the time HGH started to be widely used.

The NFL just started lasting for HGH last month. The test supposedly is easy to beat, but it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on times.

[DigitalJack]

It is amazing, but there were no stem cells involved here.

[alexandre_m]

"suffering patiently"

Hmm, say that to sick children (of all kinds).

I see your point about growing stronger thru suffering, but there are different kind of injuries and life injustice where it just doesn't apply.

Breaking your arm is different than being paralyzed from top to bottom or being blind.

[quotient]

Is that a joke?