Mining stem cells may not be an ethical quandary anymore. Scientists have successfully turned old blood cells into stem cells in just 30 minutes by dipping them in acid. The process is as simple as that.

The method was discovered by a bunch of Japanese scientists after observing a similar phenomenon in plants. Environmental stress can morph an ordinary cell into an immature one, and so new plants could then grow from the immature cell. That sort of process has been seen in birds and reptiles too, so the researchers from the Riken Center for Developmental biology set out to see if the same could happen with mammals.

The researchers experimented with mice, and sure enough, when they exposed blood cells from mice to acid, a transformation began. Some of the blood cells died, but many became stem cells within a couple of days.

"It looks a bit too good to be true, but the number of experts who have reviewed and checked this, I'm sure that it is," Chris Mason, professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, told the BBC. "If this works in people as well as it does in mice, it looks faster, cheaper and possibly safer than other cell reprogramming technologies—personalized reprogrammed cell therapies may now be viable."

This could be a game changer. The promise of stem cell research may herald the end of many diseases and the cure for many ailments. Of course, the whole thing is still unproven and complicated, but research is still underway.

The discovery could mean that we can produce stem cells cheaply, quicker and with less controversy behind it. No embryos would be harmed, and if it works in humans, the research on stem cells promise could accelerate faster than ever.

[New Scientist, BBC]