The Great Stem Cell Divide
By Michelle L. Brandt,
Stanford Medicine Magazine
| 09. 30. 2004
The science and politics of stem cell research
Stanford physician Michael Lyons, MD, is not a stem cell researcher. But when the Connecticut House Speaker recently called him to discuss her "cautious, maybe even negative, feelings" about a state bill that would endorse embryonic stem cell research, the Stanford genetics fellow was happy to oblige. The state lawmaker felt uneasy about portions of the bill, so Lyons patiently defined complex scientific terms, clarified the differences between this type of research and reproductive cloning, and outlined what he saw as the merits of the work.
By the end of the conversation he had convinced his mom that she should support the legislation.
Lyons and his mother, Speaker Moira Lyons, are just two of many to dive into the debate surrounding stem cells, undeveloped cells that can be coaxed into growing into any kind of tissue. Stem cells are so small that they can't be seen with the naked eye, yet they tend to cause mass confusion and evoke the largest of responses. In fact, Moira Lyons blames the bill's eventual failure to pass in the Connecticut House on legislators'...
Related Articles
By Alondra Nelson, Science | 09.11.2025
In the United States, the summer of 2025 will be remembered as artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) cruel summer—a season when the unheeded risks and dangers of AI became undeniably clear. Recent months have made visible the stakes of the unchecked use...
By Emma McDonald Kennedy
| 09.25.2025
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to make IVF more accessible. He made the commitment central to his campaign, even referring to himself as the “father of IVF.” In his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order promising to expand IVF access. The order set a 90-day deadline for policy recommendations for “lowering costs and reducing barriers to IVF,” although it didn’t make any substantive reproductive healthcare policy changes.
The response to the...
By Johana Bhuiyan, The Guardian | 09.23.2025
In March 2021, a 25-year-old US citizen was traveling through Chicago’s Midway airport when they were stopped by US border patrol agents. Though charged with no crime, the 25-year-old was subjected to a cheek swab to collect their DNA, which...
By Julie Métraux, Mother Jones | 09.23.2025