A killer App called Stem cell

I know i am not a Qualified doctor or whatever here to talk about this topic, but it has created an intrest in me of late. It is amazing to read what a stem cell is capable of.The Stem cell is like one Killer App in my Language terms. If you had preserved your stem cell in a bank, then you can use it anytime to cure every known and unknown disease of not only yours but of everyone in your family tree.

From what i understood, A stem cell is just a type of cell that has the capability to develop into any other type of cell.There are Specialized cells in our body which perform different tasks, eg of such cells are Muscle cells in your heart that help in the pumping operation, Blood cells that carry Oxygen, Nerve cells that carry sensory data.. etc, Now any one cell cannot do the job of another except for a stem cell.If you were to place stem cells in the heart (Not literally) then it can adapt itself to do the duty of a muscle cell and can perform pumping operation. Or another better example is that say if you had lost vision because the retina turns white, then Stem cells can do the trick here too. Typically there are different types of cells in the Black and white portion of the eyes, so you lose vision when the cells from white would spread to the one in the black. You can use Stem cells to reverse this process. If you drop off some Stem cells into the black of the eye then they would adapt to the type of cells in the black and would start to grow(stem cells can theoretically divide and grow without a limit) driving out the ones from white and thereby giving back vision.

It is amazing to read and learn about stem cells. As more and more research is aggressively pursued the better it is for the human community.The Best part of it is, If you are rich enough then you could deposit stem cells(usually embryonic) in a bank for a specific period of time and see your investment multiply as they are preserved under lab conditions for many years. And then when you need them to cure some disease, you could withdraw them from the bank and use them.Howver you could decide to leave the Principal and withdraw only the yield...Isnt that as easy as your traditional Bank.Dont be surprised if see Stem cell ATM's in the future.
Read this article in Rediff

I have just written down here what i understood, if you need to read more then you can go to NIH website , It has a easy to understand doc of what stem cells are all about.