adult stem cells

It's flat-out amazing how fast the science of adult stem cells is moving.

Just last week, I told you about two scientists who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine for creating this field.

The advance that cemented their award occurred in 2002. But it wasn't until just five years ago, in 2007, that the science of deriving adult stem cells really began in earnest.

As you might expect, it took two or three years just for all those teams around the world to get organized.

Already, I'm seeing a steady stream of new findings. There seems to be something new almost every week.

As a group, they point to a day in the very near future in which adult stem cells will become a routine part of treating a wide range of diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer's.

See, that's the great thing about stem cells - they can grow to become anything, from bone to brain tissue. Doctors hope to take your own cells, like those in your skin, and use them to grow replacement organs or to repair damaged muscles or other tissue.

Over the weekend, I told you how a team used adult stem cells to reverse vision loss in older mice. As it turns out, there are more advances you should know about.

You will really like this first one...

Adult Stem Cell Breakthrough No. 1: The New Fountain of Youth

At age 20, armed with one of the best male physiques on the planet, Arnold Schwarzenegger became Mr. Universe.

At 65, the action hero still looks good... but he's not nearly as buff.

And how could he be? It's a simple fact of science. As we age, we lose muscle mass, leaving us much more prone to falls and injuries.

Now, a team from the U.S. and Great Britain has found both the cause and a possible cure. Team members looked at stem cells inside muscles of mice. They found that the older mice in the study had far fewer of the stem cells needed to repair damage and rebuild muscle mass.

Here's why.

Recently, I was in a meeting at our headquarters in Baltimore, explaining to my editor how excited I was to tell readers about a whole new range of adult stem-cell breakthroughs.

This field of medicine is so exciting it was easy to show how these adult stem cell lines will someday play a vital role in the future of the human race.

These adult stem cell lines are crucial for two reasons:

• First, they're amazing feats of science. Researchers found that they could take adult cells, like those found in your skin, and (through what seems more magic than science), give them almost the same properties as those cells that come from human embryos. That means the cells can grow to become tissue, bones, or even entire organs, like the brain and heart.

• Second, and more to the point, I and millions of others consider this branch of stem-cell science to be ethical. It's not the same as using embryonic stem cells, which can be very divisve since those cells often come from aborted fetuses. Thus, advances derived from these adult stem cells aren't encumbered by a huge and troubling moral debate.

Not long after, we learned that the Nobel committee agrees with me...

Earlier this month, the world's top scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to the two men who pioneered the field that (among other things) created the science of adult stem cells.

And let's face it, you cannot find a better scientific "stamp of approval" than the Nobel Prize.

Now, researchers around the world will target adult stems cells with a passion that I predict will lead to a new round of key breakthroughs that will help us live to 100 and remain in robust health all the way there.

Indeed, I already have several new findings I can't wait to share with you.

These include a possible cure for blindness, new ways to combat brain disease, and achievements that will make adult stem cell treatments far healthier.

It's far too much to fit in one article, so I'm going to present it an adult stem cells series:

• Part One: Today, I'll tell you the story behind the winning of the Nobel Prize.
• Part Two: Over the weekend I'll look at a possible cure for age-related blindness.
• Part Three: And I'll conclude on Monday by telling you about even more breakthroughs including something I call the "New Fountain of Youth".

Let's get started...