stem+cell+homework-+rebecca

Stem Cell Article (1) When were stem cells first taken from a human embryo?
 * In 1998, stem cells were plucked from human embryos for the time, destroying the embryos in the process ad touching off a divisive national debate.
 * [[image:http://media.independent.com/img/photos/2007/04/26/Thomson_James_Web.jpg width="141" height="213" caption="http://media.independent.com/img/photos/2007/04/26/Thomson_James_Web.jpg"]][[image:http://www.regenetech.com/images/content_images/primer3.gif width="283" height="184" caption="http://www.regenetech.com/images/content_images/primer3.gif"]]

(2) Why is obtaining stem cells from a human embryo so controversial?
 * You can pick your sperm and your egg that you want to be conceived. You are controlling your growth of your baby. You are not letting nature takes its course. While taking the stem cells from the human embryo, and if it is destroyed, than your baby could be destroyed too.

(3) What was/is the source of human embryos for stem cell research? - (human embryo stages) (4) What is a stem cell? (embryo stem cell)
 * Sperm and eggs that were not wanted by couples. They didn't want a baby anymore. It comes from unwanted embryos.
 * It is a universal cell that can turn into any 220 cells types in a body, normally emerging only fleeting after a few days of embryo development.

(5) What diseases do we think we could treat with stem cells?
 * The complex diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s : in a petri dish, finding causes and treatments. And, they say, it may be possible to use the cells to grow replacement tissues for patients.

(6) Dr. Thomson is in the news again because he has turned ordinary skin cells into stem cells. How did he do this?
 * By using skin cells that are on the surface that appear to be embryonic stem cells.