I wrote an item a little over a week ago on an experiment to treat a youth whose heart had been damaged in an industrial accident (I'm being generous -- some idiot co-worker shot him in the chest using a nail gun). Friday, over at National Review Online, Discovery Institute fellow Wesley J. Smith comments on that case, and another that flew under the radar.

As reported by Dr. Michel F. Levesque to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the California neurosurgeon had treated Turner for his progressing Parkinson's with (Californian Dennis) Turner's own neural stem cells. First, a pea-sized sample of tissue was removed from Turner's brain. Then, stem cells in the tissue were isolated and cultured into the millions. Finally, the cells were injected back into Turner's brain. One year after the procedure, the patient's symptoms were reduced by more than 80 percent -- even though Turner was treated in only one brain lobe.

On another positive note, is the New York Times' coverage of the recent adult stem cell success is a departure from past pattern and practice.

Maybe the Times is beginning to see this as a medical research issue as opposed to an abortion issue.