Is Vitamin D a miracle drug or a disappointment like almost all other vitamins? Just recently there was a piece saying that Vitamin D may reduce pain. Today there was another news article saying Vitamin D may protect men against more aggressive prostate cancer. You name the condition and Vitamin D is claimed to help with …
Vitamin D: is this supplement helpful or hype-ful? Read More »
What’s the real story on adult stem cells? Do they really have little to no risk? As a self-proclaimed fan of stem cells, including adult stem cells, I often find myself writing and talking about them to a large, diverse audience. I’ve become a stem cell ambassador of sorts. However, I am also a realist …
The real, but oft-ignored risks of adult stem cell treatments Read More »
What are the top 10 stem cell events of a crazy 2012 to date? Based on this wild list in just over 3 months, I would say 2012 overall will prove to be a memorable one. 1. Celltex and McGee versus University of Minnesota’s Turner and Elliott. Glenn McGee, at one point both editor of American …
Stem cell stories of a crazy 2012 so far including Celltex Read More »
The Texas State Medical Board reportedly approved new rules for the use of adult stem cells. The ruling was at least in part a result of Texas Governor and former GOP presidential hopeful, Rick Perry, strongly pushing the issue. Perry himself received a controversial, non-FDA approved stem cell transplant in 2011 as part of a …
Who discovered stem cells? It goes back further than you might think. Is it even possible that one scientific team all by themselves discovered something so ubiquitous as stem cells? In theory yes. However, after research including this in Cell Stem Cell, I believe that no one group discovered stem cells. Also, if you ask the …
Who discovered stem cells & when? Some fun science history Read More »
Humans have big brains, right? In fact, they are downright supersized. But is that always such a good thing? As it turns out, no. Size matters, but bigger is not always better for brains at least. When I was in high school, my biology teacher had us do the requisite frog dissection and offered extra …
When it comes to brains, bigger is not always better Read More »
As long as I can remember, Easter has been a part of my life and for better or worse there are two things that as a kid symbolized Easter above all else for me. Eggs Chocolate Someone once told me that chocolate is proof that God exists. When it comes to eggs, they were omnipresent …
The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, April 12th, is rapidly approaching and I think there are some lessons there for the stem cell field. The Titanic was hyped as a marvel of modern technology, widely advertised as huge, unsinkable and fast. An unexpected combination….almost too good to be true. This portrayal of …
How has prostate cancer changed my life? On Sunday I was working on grading some papers before dinner when up popped a “you’ve got mail” kind of message. The email said that my PSA (the blood test for prostate cancer) test results were ready. Yay! I was diagnosed with a serious prostate cancer about 28 months …
Prostate cancer and PSA tests: perspectives of a young survivor Read More »
Does the Vatican view the American pro-lifers as a bunch of wacky extremists? An article today certainly suggest this. What’s going on? The Vatican, Catholics more generally, and “pro-lifers”, as designated by the Catholic website CatholicCulture.org are still apparently very much at odds over a now cancelled Vatican conference on stem cells that would have included …