clipped from: news.yahoo.com   

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have taken ordinary skin cells from a mouse and reprogrammed them to look and act like embryonic stem cells in a long-promised experiment that provides an alternative way to get the valued and controversial cells.

Three studies published on Wednesday show various ways to turn the clock back and make an ordinary cell act like an embryonic stem cell -- the ultimate master cells of the body.

A fourth showed a way to use discarded, abnormal embryos from fertility clinics to make embryonic stem cells.