Life Links 2/9/07

Here are two news stories from January regarding rat stem cells and hearts that I missed. From the latter story,

They appear at this time to be the ideal cell to use for cardiac repair," Taylor said. "They do everything embryonic cardiac cells do, and they don't create teratomas, or tumors."

I think the statement from John Edwards' spokeswoman in this story is hilarious.

Asked whether the campaign had sufficiently screened the two women before they were hired, Ms. Palmieri said it was difficult to find and read every word a prolific blogger had written over a period of years.

You didn't need to find and read every word. You just needed to read a week's worth of posts and that should have been enough to make you wonder if the upside of hiring Marcotte (support from the leftwing blogosphere) was worth the down side (being associated with someone who's said the kinds of things Marcotte has).


A columnist at Michigan State discusses abortion and coolness and wonders if Sufjan Stevens can make the prolife position cool.


James Thomson appears to be trying to help reporters understand that embryonic stem cells aren't going to be curing anyone anytime soon.