Did you ever wonder how you hear, and what would happen if you couldn’t? Deep within the ear, in the snail-shaped cochlea, 30,000 hair cells rest in a bath of liquid. When noise occurs, the hair cells tremble slightly. This sends vibrations to the brain, which translates them as sound. When these hair cells wear
In the days since Stem Cell Awareness Day, we are more inspired than ever in our fight for treatments and cures. That inspiration is thanks to people like you. We asked you to tell us why stem cell research gave you hope, and your replies remind all of us at Americans for Cures why we
I was walking across my high school football field one day, when the boy in front of me suddenly fell to the ground. He went down hard; then writhed around violently, as if wrestling with himself. I just stood there, holding my schoolbooks, no idea what to do. Presently the contortions calmed. He lay there
“Would you want to live forever?”, asked Gloria, beloved wife of nearly half a century. At 72, I consider myself middle-aged. My father, Dr. Charles H. Reed, is 95 and plays tennis three times a week and is reading the Bible in French. He is conversant in 12 languages, and once wrote an education dictionary
First, for readers wanting more information on ALS, the subject of one of my previous pieces, let me refer you to an outstanding article by Dr. Karen Ring of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a champion science writer. Now: stem cell decision-making? Having no conscious will of their own, stem cells of course cannot “decide” anything.
Imagine a high school, with 1,000 students. But all of them are deathly sick; their limbs are failing, the muscles growing weak; they are all becoming paralyzed, and will die in 3-5 years. Now imagine thirty-two such schools, with everybody diagnosed with ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is no horror
October 11, 2017 is Stem Cell Awareness Day, a day when we celebrate the progress we've made and look forward to the future of stem cell research as it continues to revolutionize medicine.
A member of the California stem cell program’s board of directors, and San Francisco County Supervisor Jeff Sheehy is a tall, broad-shouldered man, with more than a passing resemblance to a young John Wayne. He has a daughter, Michele, age eleven; her eyes just shine when she looks at her Dad. So what is the
Let’s talk clinical trials, ALS, and California funding for stem cell research
