SRL Archive - Discussions & Debates

Well I know that this is quite the subject to discuss and can be very controversial. Nevertheless, I would like to put it out there.
Over the last few days I've been watching CNN and reading the newspaper. I read that scientists used stem cells to help reconstruct a race horses leg, which happened to make the horse a much better racer after the cells where introduced and the leg was healed.
For those of you who don't know what Stem Cell Research, or even stem cells, are…check out this link to wikipedia for the full version.
On a purely scientific point of view, what is your opinion on this subject? Personally, I believe that the future of all medicine will come from stem cells and the research behind it, therefore I support the research 100%. But I must insist, what do you think? :)

stem cells, will need to be accepted lol but what about nano-technology?

oooo! Nano-technology rocks my socks lol. Nano-technology would be one hell of a step toward the future of…uhh…everything! If we could only perfect it, that is.

I think if they can perfect it without destroying Human embryos then it will be a major leap in medical science.

From: Martingon
I think if they can perfect it without destroying Human embryos then it will be a major leap in medical science.

I partially agree with this statement (this is where the massive amount of controversy comes in). In my opinion, I believe that the fetus is the starting point for being a human being (meaning that they have human rights), not the embryo because it isn't truly formed yet (yes yes, I know. Human rights and such…please don't flame me :eek:). This is very hard for me to write because I'm trying to chose my words carefully.
Please take no offense to anything I have said…it is merely my opinion on the matter. I'm just curious to see what others think of this.

why you post it here?

Actually, they haven't gotten anywhere with embryonic stem cells. The progress is from fully adult stem cells (Yes, a child of 5 has "adult" stem cells).

@nano-tech - Have you guys heard of the grey goo theories? Heres one of them. Scientists create a nanobot that will eat the carbon in oil, to clean up oil spills, and this nanobot will re-create itself. Now imagine that one of them gets a flaw somehow, and this flaw makes the nanobot eat ALL carbon. Now, at first, with only about 10 of these things, it would take millions of years to eat all of the carbon in the world… But oh yeah, they duplicate themselves. Now, the world is a gray slime… Oops.

@hermpie why do YOU post here?
back on topic:
stem cells beyond the point of embryo are useless anyways(we got those ourselves)

No they aren't, you can use adult stem cells for re-growing tissue. Just take out some bone marrow or some of the top layer of skin. Tada! Stem cells.


@I shouldn't post here - Lol.

yes but adult stem cells only grow into specific cells, very limited use…

From: r0b0t1
Actually, they haven't gotten anywhere with embryonic stem cells. The progress is from fully adult stem cells (Yes, a child of 5 has "adult" stem cells).

@nano-tech - Have you guys heard of the grey goo theories? Heres one of them. Scientists create a nanobot that will eat the carbon in oil, to clean up oil spills, and this nanobot will re-create itself. Now imagine that one of them gets a flaw somehow, and this flaw makes the nanobot eat ALL carbon. Now, at first, with only about 10 of these things, it would take millions of years to eat all of the carbon in the world… But oh yeah, they duplicate themselves. Now, the world is a gray slime… Oops.

@ Stem cells - really? I thought that they had been working with the embryos for some time. Guess I was wrong lol, but I do know that they at least touched base with the embryos.
@ nano tech - I have heard about the carbon bots that do those things, and I think it's quite interesting. Oh no the world will be gray slime if scientists mess up XD!

From: iloveit8
yes but adult stem cells only grow into specific cells, very limited use…

Very true, but we can still practice on the adult cells…that way, when the time comes we'll know what to modify in the stem cells to get the same result or better.

Im about 14 hours away frm being a nano scientist :P

Anyhows, purely scietific? Well, theres no argument then.

i supose you could say you are afraid of the new things science can do, like, make a supoer human destructo macine…

but honestly, its guna happen anyway.. epoepl have always been afraid of science, you cant stop progress really.

I love the idea. If my original heart fucks up, quick, get some stem cells and make me live!


Now about the conterversy, a potential life is lost every time a woman has a period, stop that you easily propagandared (a word? IMO it means you are turned by propaganda) college kids.

From: Distort
I love the idea. If my original heart fucks up, quick, get some stem cells and make me live!


Now about the conterversy, a potential life is lost every time a woman has a period, stop that you easily propagandared (a word? IMO it means you are turned by propaganda) college kids.

lmao! Well put!

[offtopic]I checked out your sig link for the hell of it…z0mg so fuckin funny![/offtopic]

I support stem cell research 100%. (except after I saw this south park episode! XD)

95%. They should try to find a different way instead of using embryos.

Yes, adult stem cells are very specific as to what they will grow into, but theres no shortage of organs… Right?

Anyhow, the reason they haven't gotten anywhere with embryonic cells is because they die to damn fast. Among other reasons.

Also, they found that there are literally tons of stem cells in an (Whats that thing called that they cut off? Makes your navel…) thing.

From: r0b0t1
Yes, adult stem cells are very specific as to what they will grow into, but theres no shortage of organs… Right?

Anyhow, the reason they haven't gotten anywhere with embryonic cells is because they die to damn fast. Among other reasons.

Also, they found that there are literally tons of stem cells in an (Whats that thing called that they cut off? Makes your navel…) thing.

I believe that you are referring to the umbilical cord that is cut off at birth.

i think stem cells can help us in future medical research…you never know

but killing fetuses is not right…they are kinda taking their lives so im inbetween

i support stem cell research but i dont like the idea that embryos or fetuses or whatever their called have to be used for it. :(

funny how these types of things come around.
i support both ideas, thats why im here :D

@ gamer716 - killing fetuses is generally against the law because it is murder. Upon fertilization, the female egg becomes a zygote…this is also known as an embryo. It takes 8 weeks for this embryo to become a fetus. The average time is 8 weeks, but it could be more or less depending on the rate of meiosis and overall cell division. If a woman wants to have an abortion, it must be between the time of conception to about 8 weeks. At the point in time when the zygote/embryo becomes a fetus, it then gains human rights. So overall, the fetus is not killed, the embryo is.

Ah stemcells. what nice little cells. Yep the future of medicine lies in stemcells so accept it or you can burn when your kidney dies and theres no donors.
Now with the cellular power of stem you can grow nyour own kidney at home. no need to give away your kidney and live on 1 kidney anymore.
But what of the people who are really poor and need to sell a body part to live otherwise with their debts and everything thell be dead the next day. Ever thought of people who get massive debts and have to pay back or die. Thats how the live with a few less body parts, but they still live dont they?
In the merciless world of loan sharks with stemcells another option to get the money is gone. Oh well you lose it you lose it. Is there anything bad about stemcells?
I like stemcells its a nice name:D

So whats all the controversy?

From: kaustav_002
Ah stemcells. what nice little cells. Yep the future of medicine lies in stemcells so accept it or you can burn when your kidney dies and theres no donors.
Now with the cellular power of stem you can grow nyour own kidney at home. no need to give away your kidney and live on 1 kidney anymore.
But what of the people who are really poor and need to sell a body part to live otherwise with their debts and everything thell be dead the next day. Ever thought of people who get massive debts and have to pay back or die. Thats how the live with a few less body parts, but they still live dont they?
In the merciless world of loan sharks with stemcells another option to get the money is gone. Oh well you lose it you lose it. Is there anything bad about stemcells?
I like stemcells its a nice name:D

So whats all the controversy?

LMAO XD! That was pretty random and doesn't really relate to anything lol. Anyway…the controversy is that stem cells come from embryos (well…they can come from a many other things, but this is the main place). People (many activists) believe that doing stem cell research on embryos is wrong since the embryo will most likely die during the researching process. Those activists believe that the embryos have human rights and that killing them is murder.

Oo i thought you wrote Sperm cells, i was eww faggot but it was stem cells :l

From: r0b0t1

@nano-tech - Have you guys heard of the grey goo theories? Heres one of them. Scientists create a nanobot that will eat the carbon in oil, to clean up oil spills, and this nanobot will re-create itself. Now imagine that one of them gets a flaw somehow, and this flaw makes the nanobot eat ALL carbon. Now, at first, with only about 10 of these things, it would take millions of years to eat all of the carbon in the world… But oh yeah, they duplicate themselves. Now, the world is a gray slime… Oops.

That's completely crazy… *edits out long explanation and puts something simple in*

The nanobot would require energy of some sort to actually duplicate itself. This energy would have to be linked with the oil somehow. (some other component in oil… like… oil?)

So we have a "start", then we have the "duplicator"
If the start were to malfunction it would be like a car ignition. you turn the key but the spark plug doesn't fire and start the engine.

The "malfunctioned" nanobot would be inert.

Thirdly, it would be extremely complicated to make a nanobot that duplicates itself. It would probably be an AB or ABCD type duplication. Where there are multiple types of the bot (that do the same thing) but each one creates the next type in it's line.

So A would make B would make C would make D would make A.

Or even reproduction. In which a Girl and Boy bot fuse together each with their own supply of Carbon creating diffirent components. Most likely there would be one type of girl nanobot and two type of guy nanobots. And depending on which type of guy fused with the girl it would decided if the product was a girl or boy.

I love nanobots ^.~

From: Distort

Now about the conterversy, a potential life is lost every time a woman has a period

As the egg cells have not been fertilized then no. It's not.

Let's take a look at history, before they knew exactly what egg cells and sperm cells were, they believed the woman carried the body, and the man carried the soul.

nano technology is pretty much just an idea. It hasn't been put into action, but would be nice. It sounds cool to many kids, but with it would come great risks, as in a miscalculation or glitch that could prove very bad, especially with ones that self replicate.

r0b0t1 - most of us have seen that modern marvels episode.

I'm all for stem cell research. Btw, there are a lot of other ways to get stem cells besides fetuses. Just this Febuary scientists found a way to turn human skin cells into stem cells. Very good news indeed.

EDIT:

The very best - pluripotent stem cells - turn into ANY cell type in the body are in the unformed human embryo. There are only about 50-150 stem cells in there)

Multipotent stem cells - those that turn into any cell type - within a certain family are in an adult's bone marrow. Most of these turn into blood cell types (WBC, RBC, T-cells, B-cells)

The third is totipotent but I can't remember that one now. Fourth is unipotent but forgot that one too.

There's your mini stem cell lesson.

Good stuff.

@ lolpie - Very nice information! I'm glad to see people posting about what they've researched or what they've learned in school. For the majority, I've seen some really good, well thought out or informative posts. Thanks guys :D!

Yeah, I had to do a research project on stem cells for my AP Bio class. It was a ton of fun (presenting it, not researching it).

Personally I have nothing against stem cell research. It starts to get sick when people are starting to design what their babies are gonna look like…

dont bump threads!

From: hermpie
dont bump threads!

Doesn't matter.

Not a big bump, nor is there a newer stem cell research debate going on, nothing wrong with him posting here then, correct?

I'm def for stem cell, we were given this question for exams one time during my first degree paper exam.
Stem cell is the future, with an embryo stem cell the cell can differentiate into various specialized cells. With that MANY degenerative diseases that kills cells can be relenished.
As for the ethical part of this topic, I would not thread into it.
I would end with a quote from the researcher who created Dolly
"cloning promises such great benefits that it would be immoral not to do it"
(Campbell, Reece, 2005)

From: passiondrive
Personally I have nothing against stem cell research. It starts to get sick when people are starting to design what their babies are gonna look like…

What's that have to do with stem cells?