The debate between the morality and the necessity surrounding stem cells may soon be over. Japanese scientists discovered that human skin cells can generate stem cells. These cells from skin would replace stem cells from human embryos and make stem cell research more widespread, according to BBC News.
As the technology advances at an ever-increasing rate and the science of the stem cells continues to break news, the world watches and waits for the announcements that the era of cloning has arrived.
Cloning carries its own ethical concerns. Cells from embryos would need to be cloned so that the immune system would not reject them; stem cells from skin carry the same DNA as the patient, making them less likely to be rejected, according to The New York Times.
Being able to harvest the cells in a much more humane process, free from the surrounding moral hullabaloo of "killing embryos in the name of science" will remove the science versus religion debate and begin helping those with diseases like Alzheimer's.
The Spectrum holds its breath with peers in the global community as we editors await news of further breakthroughs. The medical age, it seems, is upon us.
Broadway is dark tonight
The negotiations must go on, rather than the shows
Unfortunately for Broadway, stagehands don't have understudies. Local One, a union representing stagehands and all others involved in maintaining set and shows, is on strike to prevent producers from League of American Theaters and Producers from lowering production costs, according to The New York Times. Progress on reaching an agreement is slow; the current wage rate was reached after years haggling.
The show won't go on until everyone gets paid. The strike costs the city $2 million a day in lost revenues, losing $42 million from canceling shows over the Thanksgiving holiday. The hours of practice, devotion and dedication poured into each and every Broadway show seems null and void.
Eight Broadway shows are still running, but off-Broadway is harder to find. A judge recently ordered that Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical to reopen, due to its seasonal run, according to The New York Times.
It may seem like the strikers are ruining theatergoers' holiday plans in order to get what they want. But this year the Grinch is stealing a living from the stagehands. And the Whos will just have to have Christmas without their musicals...flunjers, capdabblers and Suessicals.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
