Re:Scientists use adult skin cells to regenerate functional ...
by dekhn on Monday March 21, 2016 @08:03AM
(#11327459)
This is a key distinction. When you make a scientific claim, it has to be accurate, and in this case, they clearly did not grow a heart from scratch.
"SCIENTISTS GROW FULL-SIZED, BEATING HUMAN HEARTS FROM STEM CELLS" makes it sound like they just dumped stem cells in a petri dish and got a fully-functioning, properly shaped heart. Beyond being useful for creating custom replacement organs, that would imply we had godlike powers, because you can't grow a fully functional organ in isolation like that (building that matrix is entirely non trivial, as it happens in concert with all the organs growing around it).
"SCIENTISTS GROW FULL-SIZED, BEATING HUMAN HEARTS FROM STEM CELLS" makes it sound like they just dumped stem cells in a petri dish and got a fully-functioning, properly shaped heart. Beyond being useful for creating custom replacement organs, that would imply we had godlike powers, because you can't grow a fully functional organ in isolation like that (building that matrix is entirely non trivial, as it happens in concert with all the organs growing around it).