Wesley J. Smith

Stories like this are finally breaking the back of the CURES! CURES! CURES! ESCR/cloning hype brigade: A patient is being treated with bone marrow stem cells as part of spinal surgery to help in healing. From the story in the Sacramento Bee, no less:They are not from human embryos, but the stem . . . . Continue Reading »

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that 10 grant applications to fund research have been rejected by the CIRM staff due to conflict of interest violations. That’s good. But get this: The agency is refusing to divulge which members of its steering committee violated the rules. From the . . . . Continue Reading »

This article is a pretty good summary of the presentation I made at the international anti-euthanasia conference in Toronto last week. (Kudos to Alex Schadenberg, head of the Canada-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, for spearheading such a successful and important get together. Many leaders in . . . . Continue Reading »

The potential for conflict of interest is always an issue when billions of dollars are on the line. But it is built into the system of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, tasked with distributing $300 million of borrowed money each year for cloning, embryonic, and now iPSC research. . . . . Continue Reading »

Research into the new iPS cells is moving forward at a seemingly breathtaking pace. Mouse studies carried out at Harvard demonstrate that they have the capacity to treat sickle-cell anemia. From the story:Mice with a human sickle-cell anemia disease trait have been treated successfully in a process . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert Latimer murdered his 12-year-old-daughter Tracy in 1993 because she was disabled by cerebral palsy. (The picture is of Tracy and her father.) While many Canadians supported Latimer as a loving father who put his daughter out of misery, he was convicted in of second degree murder. His first . . . . Continue Reading »

I reported here a few weeks ago that PETA had filed a complaint with the federal government against the Oregon National Primate Research Center, claiming abuses of the animals. I wrote then that I believed the claim would prove to be unmeritorious, as many (but alas, not all) of PETA’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Did they really need to do a study to answer this? The authors say it is about evolutionary imperatives. Baloney. Men are hound dogs. It’s that simple.Yes indeed, Secondhand Smokette is a much younger . . . . Continue Reading »

A presentation at a science convention has urged that scientists get involved in politics. From the blog description of the presentation:This morning, a group of panelists issued a call to action to a standing-room-only crowd at the American Society for Cell Biology’s 47th Annual Meeting: . . . . Continue Reading »

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, once dedicated to funding human cloning and ESC research, has shifted gears. Now, it is going to also fund alternative research that does not create or destroy human embryos. From the story:California’s stem cell agency plans to spend up to . . . . Continue Reading »