Intro: Until relatively recently it was thought that mammals – and humans – were distinctly different to the asexual and biological properties of plants

Novelist Arthur C Clarke was notorious for his three laws to explain the ‘science of prediction’. His third law stated that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Some may truly believe that there is an element of magic behind Japan’s announcement that its researchers have created stem cells (i.e. the basic tissue from which all others are made) simply from a process of bathing a sample of blood in a weak solution of citric acid.

In making this phenomenal breakthrough, the Japanese scientists were inspired of the biological process where plants have the ability to make copies of themselves without sexual reproduction. Taking a cutting or a piece of tissue from the apex of a growing plant stem can be used to create an entirely new shrub with all its complex parts. Any gardener will be aware of the magic involved in creating a completely new life form in this way.

Until recently, it was thought that mammals – and humans – were very different and distinct from plants in respect of asexual reproduction. Once an early embryo had moved through the biological processes of cell differentiation to become a fully formed individual, its constituent mature cells were said to be incapable of going into reverse and becoming embryonic again.

This particular principled belief was blown away following the cloning of Dolly the Sheep. She was cloned from the specialised skin cell of an adult ewe and yet somehow her genes had been reprogrammed to their earlier embryonic state. This shibboleth gave rise to the idea of creating stem cells from cloned embryos.

A separate Japanese team went one step further in 2006 and reprogrammed skin cells back to their embryonic state by the addition of a handful of genes. The scientists successfully argued and got round the ethical issues of using human embryos, but safety concerns were raised over using genetically modified cells in medicine.

Now, though, we have the stunning revelation that skin or blood cells can be reprogrammed back to their embryonic state simply by bathing them for 30 minutes in weak acid. This may sound like magic, but it appears to be scientifically true. We can only hope that it can be quickly applied in medical treatments for many insufferable conditions for which there are no practical or effective remedies.