By Ron Lowe Santa Monica
A stem cell shocker: Skin cells can be used instead of embryonic cells to duplicate organ parts, thus defusing the debate over ethical standards. Not so shocking once you realize that each cell contains a DNA replica of the whole body.
In the movie “Star Wars,” Luke Skywalker’s adventure begins when a beam of light shoots out of the robot R2D2 and projects a miniature three-dimensional image of Princess Leia. The image is a hologram. A hologram is a specially constructed image which, when illuminated by a laser beam, seems eerily suspended in three-dimensional space. The most incredible feature of a hologram is that any piece of it provides an image of the entire hologram. In the same way the information of the whole body and all its organs is contained in each cell.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.