FuturePundit On Stem Cell Advances

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Randall Parker notes that the importance of many recent advances in stem cell research lies not in the immediate results, but rather the new tools developed for the task. For example, with reference to differentiating stem cells into liver cells, "the more important story here is not the discovery of particular protein combinations that make stem cells differentiate into liver cells. What will be more valuable in the longer run is the ability to apply their technique to more combinations of of proteins to convert embryonic and other cell types into various desired cell types. With better tools progress can accelerate by orders of magnitude. This is another example of the accelerating rate of advance of biomedical research."

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