Adult stem cells have produced much better results than embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cell has been able to give treatments for 73 different conditions whereas embryonic stem cell therapy has not helped even a single patient.

Researchers have developed a type of nerve cell out of ordinary skin cells in a new approach to stem cell research.

The uniqueness of the new development allows researchers to reprogram adult stem cells to behave like embryonic stem cells without destroying human embryos.

The new research has made it possible to make motor neurons out of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells -- a type of cell made from ordinary skin cells that resemble human embryonic stem cells.

Scientists are optimistic that iPS cells would be able to offer a substitute for embryonic stem cells. This would give a ray of hope to many patients.

Motor neurons make muscles contract. If medical science is able to make new motor neurons it will help in treating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the team at the University of California Los Angeles reported.

William Lowry and colleagues used the new technique to reprogram skin fibroblasts back to an embryonic state, and then turned them into motor neurons.