A breakthrough: converting skin cells directly to brain cells, without a transition through stem cells.
Faster, please.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Now this is really cool — living lasers made from human cells:
Optical imaging labels can report on the molecular workings of tissues and cells in the body. Fluorescent protein tags that emit visible or infrared light are now common tools for studying cell biology in test tubes. But getting such light in and out of the body is difficult because light diffuses as it passes through biological tissues. Living lasers, if they’re made into practical systems, have the potential to change that. One can imagine having a hybrid living-nonliving medical implant under the skin that would beam out a stream of information about biomarkers in the blood, for example.
Not only that, but if it works with shark cells, it would be the solution to Dr. Evil’s long-time frustration.
lulz @ title
“Hope For Michael Moore…”
If they could do it with fat cells, we’d have a new super genius on our hands.
Just think of the possibilities for Rosie O’Donnell…
converting skin cells directly to brain cells,
But then we could *see* Michael Moore’s brain.
Ewww….
Is that worse than wearing your heart on your sleeve? Is that next? Is that where this Frankenscience is going?
His skin? We’d go from needing an electron microscope to see Mikey’s brain, to being able to see it from space.
Doesn’t Scott Summers’ retinal tissue already create laser power?
Not only that, but if it works with shark cells, it would be the solution to Dr. Evil’s long-time frustration.
Damnit, I was gonna say that. 😉
I… hope they’re doing this skin cell to brain cell thing in petri rather than in-situ, because that sounds positively disgusting.
And “lazing human cells” sounds crazy, like Blood Music-level crazy.
Hmm. I read the short story in Analog in 1988 or so. I’ll have to see what else Greg had to say…