Stem Cells

Long before Hollywood felt comfortable expressing its politics, medicine and medical research were the entertainment industry's causes of choice. People who think that celebrity interest in medical science begins and ends with cosmetic surgery need to take a look at the names on the buildings at Cedars-Sinai: Steven Spielberg, George Burns and Gracie Allen.

Faced with a new federal policy that opens the door for more embryonic stem cell research, conservatives have geared up for a political battle at the national and state levels that goes to the core of their beliefs about the sanctity of human life. Since President Obama lifted the eight-year ban on nearly all federal funding for stem cell research this week, conservative leaders have stepped up efforts to lobby Congress to preserve some restrictions, they said.

In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama is planning to lift a rule that prevents federal money from going to international family planning groups that counsel women on abortion or perform the procedure. Obama's repeal of the abortion aid policy is one of several executive actions he will take soon after his inauguration today, according to Obama transition aides. He is also considering lifting Bush administration restrictions on federally funded stem cell research.

Scientists reported Thursday that for the first time they have made human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos, a development that the government's top stem cell official said would make the controversial research eligible for federal funding.

Scientists in California say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, a potential step toward developing scientifically valuable stem cells. The new report from La Jolla documents embryos made with ordinary skin cells. But it's not the first time human cloned embryos have been made. In 2005, for example, scientists in Britain reported using embryonic stem cells to produce a cloned embryo. It matured enough to produce stem cells, but none were extracted.

In Japan, the country that gave the world innovations like instant noodles and the Sony Walkman, science has always been seen as a profession that is supposed to produce something useful. The Japanese celebrate the tinkerers and technicians, the no-nonsense types who built the postwar economic dynamo. Pure scientists, cloistered away in underfunded labs and pursuing their dreamy theories, have never caught the national imagination. They just aren't practical enough.

"The Eye," Lionsgate/Paramount Vantage films, released Feb. 1. The premise: Sydney Wells (played by Jessica Alba) was blinded in an accident with fireworks at age 5. Twenty years later, because of stem cell research, she is able to undergo bilateral corneal transplants, which are stitched on with large sutures. At first her returning vision is blurry, but as it starts to clear, she suffers from destabilizing visions, hallucinations and dreams. Her ophthalmologist, Dr.

"Restore and renew." "Significantly reduces the loss of cells in the epidermis." "Regenerate cells and repair tissue." The newest skin creams beckon with an air of scientific gravitas, holding out the hope that now, at last, medicine has triumphed over the visible aging process. With tantalizing biological references and understated packaging, the products are among the first on the market to capitalize on the public's insatiable appetite for stem cell technology.

California's voter-created stem cell institute is expected to award $227 million in grants today to seed a laboratory building spree at a dozen universities and research centers, including USC, UCLA and UC Irvine. New labs are needed to house the growing number of researchers funded by 2004's Proposition 71, officials at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine say, even though one of the main pressures on lab space is likely to be lifted after the November election.

CANNES, France -- The entertainment industry attracts all sorts of unusual investors, but the people behind a new movie premiering at the Cannes Film Festival couldn't be further removed from the Hollywood scene: They are Kansas doctors eager to tell a story about stem cell research.