Scientists have not only made the production of induced pluripotent stem cells much more efficient, but also have made them just as capable as embryonic stem cells of being able to produce any cell type.
Patients are encouraged to seek only "evidence-based" treatments for disease, but a look behind the scenes of clinical trials reveals some of the same human foibles that plague any science: shortcomings in honesty and transparency.
Induced pluripotent stem cells allow researchers to ethically create any cell type from an adult cell, raising hopes for regenerative medicine. Eyebrows started to raise recently, though, when labs grew brains with them and turned others into sperm and egg cells.