A Brief Note on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2007

As you've probably heard, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2007 was awarded for research in using embryonic stem cells to produce “knockout” mice. Needless to say someone at Democratic Underground commented: “Not good news for fundies, I guess.”

In the real world, the stem cells in question don't produce the mice the scientists want until a couple of generations later. It has nothing to with the proposed embryonic stem-cell therapies or even “designer children.”

These techniques might possibly be used for “designer grandchildren” … but I suspect that's beyond the time horizon of the people most enthusiastic about embryonic stem-cell therapies.

To make matters worse, some conservatives made a similar mistake. This Nobel Prize just might have a hidden agenda of provoking criticism from pro-lifers. (This is an example of the “let's scare conservatives” that I've already discussed.) If so, in my case it won't work.