Free Republic

A fierce dust storm hit the Black Rock Desert on the eve of its annual Burning Man festival, damaging campsites that had been set up early, participants reported. Winds of up to 50 mph stirred up the lakebed's alkaline dust so fiercely that participants in the annual art and culture festival reported not being able to see beyond a foot. Still, gates to the festival had opened by Sunday morning, with organizers cautioning new arrivals to "drive safely!" The dust storm arrived Saturday evening after strong thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada drifted off the mountains and whipped up strong winds...

Last month we looked at the work of a research group from the University of Cambridge who have been creating mouse embryos that are grown from stem cells rather than sperm and eggs. The embryos possess small brains, beating hearts, and other organs. While this is fascinating research that presents opportunities in the medical field, particularly for organ transplants, I raised a number of obvious ethical questions. Doing this with mice is one thing, but obviously, this research is heading toward trying something similar with human organs. Well, as the saying goes, that didn’t take long. Someone is already on...