Articles in Nature Reports Stem Cells this month call for a return to nuance in the age of dogma. A pair of bioethicists worry that participants in clinical trials may hear “stem cell” and think “therapy”, even without evidence of medical benefit. A stem-cell scientist describes his frustration at the fact-twisting practiced by proponents and opponents of embryonic stem-cell research. And a US presidential order strikes the term “embryonic” from the list of stem cell lines eligible for federal research.

Our top stories:

Therapeutic misconception and stem cell research

Mildred K. Cho and David Magnus from the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics worry that some advocates are making too good a case for stem cells’ medical benefits.

Cancer stem cells, sightings and slightings

How rare are tumour-initiating cells? How relevant? Nature Reports Stem Cells asks whether the efforts to to identify cancer stem cells in one tumour after another might miss the big picture.

Alternative energy for pluripotent stem cells

Markus Grompe, the director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center, describes hopes and plans to create pluripotent stem cells without destroying embryos.

Stem cells by any other name

A funding crunch is forcing Singapore’s ES Stem Cell International to go after medium-term revenues.

Q&A: King of the stem cells

On 14 September, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) appointed Australian biologist Alan Trounson as its new president.

Making the Paper: Embryonic stem cells make their own niche

By untangling the interplay of two growth factors, Mick Bhatia finds that stem cells in culture create ways to stall differentiation.

Nature Reports Stem Cells is a free, interactive forum for stem cell scientists and other stakeholders to communicate about the research, policy, ethics, business and medicine of stem cell science.