One of the hallmarks of President Obama’s genius as the Chess Master is that he can play so many successful games at once. It is no surprise that a number of the Chess Master’s game boards are taking shape and are now paying dividends from his strategic opening gambits. Although George Bush, to his credit, did let some stem cell research go on in spite of right wing opposition, it was severely limited both financially as well as biologically. Here is a CBS News report from June 18, 2009:

Obama Ends Stem Cell

Research Ban

President Barack Obama said Monday he is allowing federal taxpayer dollars to fund significantly broader research on embryonic stem cells because "medical miracles do not happen simply by accident," and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost under his predecessor.

Fulfilling a campaign promise, Mr. Obama signed an executive order expected to set in motion increased research that supporters believe could uncover cures for serious ailments from diabetes to paralysis.

Mr. Obama's action, before a packed East Room audience, reverses former President George W. Bush's policy on stem cell research by undoing a 2001 directive that banned federal funding for research into stem lines created after that date.

Mr. Bush limited the use of taxpayer money to only the 21 stem cell lines that had been produced before his decision. He argued he was defending human life because days-old embryos - although typically from fertility clinics and already destined for destruction - are destroyed to create the stem cell lines.

Bear in mind that the anti-scientific Republican Party banned or cut back on scientific research during the misguided Bush years. Their unbelievable stance toward stem cell research set America significantly back while those suffering with curable maladies were denied access to a full life because of the stone-age thinking of the radical right.

Hold the thought because if they get back into office, these people will take us back to their ill-advised policy of cutting back or stopping the beneficial scientific research that you are about to marvel at below. 

If you look closely at these photos you can make out the shape of a human ear growing on a lab rat’s back. American scientists have come on so quickly since President Obama reopened and expanded the funding channels for stem cell research. It is predicted that replacement human ears and other body parts will be available to implant on wounded soldiers and others – and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Here is a recent AP release:

“ Scientists are growing ears, bone and skin in the lab, and doctors are planning more face transplants and other extreme plastic surgeries. Around the country, the most advanced medical tools that exist are now being deployed to help America's newest veterans and wounded troops.

—In Los Angeles, surgeons used part of Michael Mills' forehead to rebuild his nose after a bomb disfigured him in Iraq.

—In Pittsburgh, doctors used an experimental therapy from pig tissue to help regrow part of a thigh muscle that Ron Strang lost in a blast in Afghanistan.

—In Boston, scientists are making plans for the first implants of lab-grown ears for wounded troops after successful experiments in sheep and rats.

—In San Antonio and other cities, doctors are testing sprayed-on skin cells and lab-made sheets of skin to heal burns and other wounds. The ingenuity is impressive: One product was developed from foreskin left over from circumcisions.”

Much of the research and much of the successes have come from a military program named AFIRM that was begun at the end of the Bush administration and continued and expanded by President Obama. Up to a thousand troops might need an ear and many of these will start to get them next year.

With the American scientific community unleashed we can predict that our labs will continue to devise more and more startling miracles that will show up at an incredible speed.