[MHGinTN]

It is hard to take serious a writer who uses two foolish words int he opening of an essay on cell biology/embryology. ... Human’s have oocytes, not eggs (we’re not chickens), and once fertilization of an oocyte occurs, it is no longer an oocyte—by definition, I might say—since the chromosomal makeup is vastly different from that of the original oocyte/ovum.

[neverdem]

Combined stem cell and diabetes ping. Mice appear to have lurking beta cell precursors! FReepmail me if you want on or off the stem cell or diabetes ping list.

[Wuli]

This is a needless and needlessly long dissertation, seeking “clarity” in a science that has recently produced processes by which “stem cells” that are not “embryonic” stem cells have been able to be coaxed into assuming all the “pluripotent” abilities once thought possible only to “embryonic” stem cells; and as further science may yet prove, other stem cell distinctions may prove amendable to human engineering as well; and thus the real clarity on this issue may come with the shattering of stem cell distinctions with our scientific mastery over ANY “stem” cells. Meanhwile, all the presented distinctions are lost and useless, beyond the two most common lay stem cell terms, "embryonic" and "adult", except to a narrow range of researchers. No offense to the poster intended.