There are two different types of stem cells- adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells
Adult stem cells are stem cells after embryonic development and are found in different tissues throughout the body.
They are assigned to a specific tissue and are designed to maintain it.
Their ability to divide is limited.
Embryonic stem cells are at the blastocyst stage. The stem cells are isolated and divide/replicate.
They are able to become any type of cell in the body.
Scientists grow embryonic stem cells. They use a lot of methods and procedures to create them. They have created "recipes" for differentiation: where the embryonic cell is assigned to a important cell in the body (heart, liver, muscle cell)
If scientists can assign the cells to specific cell types, then the cells can treat for disease.
In the article, scientists have found a way to take a adult cell and make it behave like an Embryonic cell. They use manipulations to trick the cell. This process is called cellular reprogramming.
The closest scientists got to that was somatic cell nuclear transfer/cloning where they put an adult cell's DNA into an egg cell.
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