I swoon not for the particular science here, but for the whole idea that actual science is being allowed back into view. How desperate is your position when your faith demands that you refute fact? The faith based paradigm has given way to the reality based one.
Somehow its not appropriate to say "Thank God" - but I will anyway. You know what I mean.
I'm really getting perturbed over the Gitmo machinations though. Its simple. Charge and try them or let them go - state secrets can be covered in camera - and if we screwed up the evidence by illegal and abusive interrogation techniques, well we blew it and what must stand is our own standards of equal justice. That's the damn price for going overboard and succumbing to fear. Sorry no do overs. Their release will not add any more threat to the equation and the moral credit we would get for it is more damaging to their cause than anything our use of force can provide. If they're so dangerous then prove it in a court...that's what courts are for. What's always on trial is our ability to judge by law, not hysteria.
Now onto the glad tidings.
Human embryonic stem cell study gets green light(CNN) -- Federal regulators have cleared the way for the first human trials of human embryonic stem-cell research, authorizing researchers to test whether the cells are safe to use in spinal injury patients, the company behind the trials announced Friday.
The tests could begin by summer, said Dr. Thomas Okarma, president and CEO of the Geron Corporation. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the trials, which will use human stem cells authorized for research by then-President George W. Bush in 2001.
The patients will be those with the most severe spinal cord injuries, called complete spinal cord injuries.
"A complete spinal cord injury has no hope of recovery below the injury," Okarma told CNN. "This is significant because it's the first clinical trial of a human embryonic-based product."
The primary purpose of the trial will be to see whether injecting these cells into patients is safe, but Okarma said researchers will also look for any signs of recovery. Scientists will monitor the patients for a year after the injections to see if they are regaining any function below the injured point....
And this:
Amid protests, Obama backs 'right to choose' on Roe anniversary
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