You can sieve for nuggets of gold on occasion, but the quest for publicity, fortune and finance creates its own pecking order of scientific press releases. No doubt, some professional ethics still draws upon the disdain of the last century but we have seen two distinct breakthroughs enter the mainstream press today. One was the creation of artificial sperm using stem cells. I use the term artificial advisedly as these cells were created, not born:
The medical breakthrough, which is reported in the respected journal Stem Cells and Development, is the latest from the institute, which is made up of the Newcastle and Durham Universities along with the Newcastle NHS Foundation.
Led by the leading stem cell biologist Professor Karim Nayernia, the team has already used the technique in mice which have then gone on to produce offspring.
Professor Nayernia, who is calling for a debate on the use of his breakthrough, said the sperm created was not perfect but had all the essential qualities for creating life.
He said: "This is very amazing and very exciting. They have heads, they have tails and they move. The shape is not quite normal nor the movement, but they contain the proteins for egg activation."
Cue ethical arguments! the second breakthrough was an artifical chip that could replicate a neuronal cell. This concept could prove invaluable for a new paradigm for developing 'cognitive crutches' for those whose aging has impaired their senses:
Nerve cells in the brain release and use neurotransmitters, or chemicals that to talk to each other.
The new artificial cells can do the same, opening up potential treatments, the researchers claim.
Prof Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research, said: "The ability to deliver exact doses of neurotransmitters opens completely new possibilities for correcting the signalling systems that are faulty in a number of neurological diseases."
This is good news, better than they preach from the pulpit.
