ESC and Lungs

An interesting article from Science Daily:

"they seeded mouse embryonic stem cells into 'acellular' rat lungs... The result: empty lung-shaped scaffolds of structural proteins on which the mouse stem cells thrived and differentiated into new cells appropriate to their specific locations."

In the research phase it is easier to work with animal ESCs. There doesn't seem to be any reason this would work with ASCs (probably reprogrammed ISCs).

Solar Music

An interesting take on Psalm 19:1, from Science Daily:

"These giant coronal loops have also been observed to undergo periodic (oscillatory) motion, which can be thought of as someone plucking a guitar string (transversal oscillations) or blowing the wind-pipe instrument (longitudinal oscillations). With the length and thickness of the string fixed, the pitch of the note is determined by the tension of the string and the tone is made up of the harmonics of the modes of oscillation."

Flood

Interesting news from Ars Technica and Science News:

"Over the course of just a few days, the flood barreled through limestone-rich bedrock, carving out 1.2km of canyon with an average depth of over seven meters, and as deep as 12m in some spots. Below that region, the gorge opens up into another kilometer that's a bit more like an alluvial valley, with winding channels spread over a wider space. "

"Water rushing through the dam’s emergency spillway carved a 2.2-kilometer-long canyon downstream of the spillway in just three days"

"It is difficult to identify morphologic features in Canyon Lake Gorge that indicate canyon formation during a three day event, versus a longer-lived flood or multiple events"

"It doesn’t take millions of years to create an impressive channel," Howard notes. "Flowing liquid can do a lot of work in a short period of time."

ASC Risk

A cautionary tale from Science Daily:

"The case involves an adult patient with severe kidney disease, who was treated at a private clinic, by direct injection of her own stem cells into her kidneys"

"underscores a growing risk associated with the increased number of private clinics offering stem cell therapies to patients with little or no oversight from the scientific stem cell community"

ASC Supply

Another potential source of adult stem cells, possibly available for transplant, from Science Daily:

"Analysis of these data demonstrates the promising potential of dental pulp cell collections as a source of cell banks for use in regenerative medicine"

Take America Back

As we approach the elections, the rhetoric is going be be cranked up pretty rapidly. A thought-provoking article from Doug Wilson:

"Once we have taken America back from those guys [liberals and progressives], what do we do with it?"

This is an excellent point (one Wilson makes fairly often). Conservatives understand that the country is moving in the wrong direction, too fast. But, when they are in power, what do they do? Move in the same (or a similar) direction a little more slowly.

I feel like quoting the whole thing, it is really worth reading:

"The assumption is that the underlying America is just fine the way it is unless some progressive has been messing with it. We need to 'save America,' the thinking goes, and so the language of salvation is used all the time. But in our heart of hearts, we are saving an innocent kidnapping victim, and not a skid row bum who became a drunk because of his own stupid choices."

"America gets to be saved without repentance"

"Any attempts to take America back without an explicit call for America to become (again) a Christian nation is an exercise in futility"

"our people as a whole -- must confess that Jesus is Lord"

Now the interesting thing here is that I both agree and disagree with Wilson on these very points.

We must proclaim to all Americans that they must confess Jesus is Lord.

But, Wilson expects that such a proclamation will actually make America a Christian nation (post-millenialism). From my point of view, such a thing will never happen. We must proclaim it, so that our nation's sin will be revealed - the refusal to obey.

Could God surprise us with another great revival? Possibly. But I don't believe America was ever a truly Christian nation (Christian derived or inspired, certainly).

ASC Research

Popular topic lately... from Science Daily:

"techniques used in these studies to introduce a different version of a single gene or inactivate a particular gene were ineffective in human ESCs"

"They derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) ... in cultures containing the growth factor LIF, which is used in the creation of mouse ESCs. The resulting cells visibly resembled mouse ESCs and proved amenable to a standard gene manipulation technique that exchanges matching sequences of DNA"

ASC Research

We've seen the most common use for embryonic stem cells is in pure research. Now, at Science Daily, a case of similar research using adult stem cells:

"The Mount Sinai team took patient skin cells and reprogrammed them to become pluripotent stem cells. Such cells can then develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The researchers then created heart cells that had characteristics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy."

IVF and Abortion

A chilling story from Albert Mohler:

"approximately 80 abortions are performed in the UK each year, terminating pregnancies that came about by IVF treatments."

The numbers aren't overwhelming, but the thinking behind this is. Also, the public response:

"Though there is a sense of outrage on the part of many in the public, it appears that much of the concern is financial, rather than moral."