New Scientist is carrying this interesting summary of new developments in stem cell research. By using techniques to induce "parthenogenesis" (which the NS people termed "virgin birth"), human egg cells can start creating stem cells without fertilization. This neatly gets around the big ethical problem most luddite conservatives have about stem cell research, as what results from parthenogenesis doesn't survive beyond the blastocite stage and could never be brought to the fetus stage let alone an actual infant.