Testecool

If this works out, there better not be a damn word out of anybody complaining against research, but cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos.

The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study on tomorrow's issue of Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world's population: men. That, and they may constantly itch.

Using testicular cells isn't the only promising method that avoids embryos; there have been impressive experiments in reprogramming ordinary body cells into stem cells by slipping certain genes into them. Earlier studies showed promise using so-called spermatogonial cells from the testes of mice. The new study used cells taken from biopsied tissue from 22 different men undergoing various medical treatments. The men ranged in age from 17 to 81. Researchers found that after a few weeks of growth, the cells could differentiate into various types of cells just like those taken from embryos.

Other scientists hailed the idea as promising, but not a reason to give up on research on embryonic stem cells. "It's exciting. We could do it for males; that leaves women without as easy a method," said stem cell scientist George Daley of Children's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. A female equivalent could be in women's egg cells, but Daley said that's unlikely because of the makeup of those cells.

My only thought is, if stem cell research becomes popularised and successful, that all the morally superior religious folk don't get to have it. Like vegetarians having a piece of Kobe beef or hybrid-zealots catching a ride in an SUV, if you ain't on board, you don't get to go along with it. Don't worry, I'll trade you - leave me behind when the rapture comes and beams you up Heaven's chimney.

PS. I warned you them big 'ol testes were coming.