If you suggested that one day, stem cells would have potential applications from creating spinach human hearts to curing aggressive baldness, you'd probably be labeled as a crazy person, like those Y2K doomsayers or Frasier fans. While it seems these stem cell milestones get more improbable from clinical trial to clinical trial, this latest stem cell advancement is truly out of this world. 2017: A SPACE ODYSSEY Stem cell researchers are blasting stem cells off to the International Space System in order to see if microgravity can encourage the cells to proliferate faster. In other words, scientists are sending stem cells to space to see if they can increase the rate stem cells can multiply. Rapidly development of stem cells is thought to be one of the final barriers impeding new stem cell treatments for stroke, and other health [...]

We all know vegetables are good for you. That's right, your parents weren't lying to you all those years (about nutrition anyway). But they probably didn't think veggies could be beneficial to you in this fashion. Giving new meaning to the cliché, 'You are what you eat', scientists have discovered a method of building working human heart muscle...from spinach greens. They hope to solve the never-ending dilemma of repairing damaged organs, revitalizing them with Popeye-like fortitude. TISSUE ENGINEERING 101 The study, published in full detail in the journal Biomaterials, illustrates the research team's method of 'growing' a vascular system, which has been a notorious roadblock of the tissue engineering field for years. Creating sections of human tissue in a lab setting isn't anything new. Scientists are able to replicate basic tissues with techniques like 3D-printing, but have yet [...]

The next chapter of stem cell research? Bringing back the dead. When one considers "bringing someone back from the dead", it conjures macabre images of Zombies and Frankenstein. That ghoulish diction isn't really synonymous with a potential ground-breaking discovery in stem cell research, but a life sciences company named Bioquark, Inc. is embarking upon studies to bring brain dead patients back to life. THE SCIENCE OF STEM CELL RESURRECTION How is Bioquark leveraging cells in hopes of playing God? Isolating stem cells taken from a patient's fat or blood, an then combined with a peptide formula, the mixture is injected into the spinal cord - which if successful, would nurture the growth of new neurons. Following the stem cell injections, a strict routine of nerve stimulation and laser therapy will be implemented over a [...]

Once upon a time, there was an old adult stem cell who had three little stem cells, and not enough mitochondria to fuel them. So when they were mature enough, the grown up cell sent them out into the world to seek their fortunes. The first little stem cell was lazy. It didn't work at all, so it differentiated into a sedentary bone cell. The second little stem cell worked a bit harder, but still lazy - it transformed into a muscle cell. The third little stem cell worked hard all day, and became an intelligent brain cell. When stem cell research began far away and just as long ago, it's alluring potential - from providing insight to early human development, to eradicating permanent, fatal autoimmune diseases - was the stuff of fairytale. But [...]