Let’s hear it for Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. He came out strongly in support of stem cell research at a Senate hearing this Monday, bucking the official line of the Bush administration.

“It is in the best interests of our scientists, our science, our country,” he said, “that the nation finds a way to allow the science to go full speed on both adult and embryonic stem cell research.” Zerhouni also denounced the notion that adult stem cells hold just as much promise as embryonic stem cells.

Whether the NIH director is being flogged right now in a back room at the White House is unclear. But administration officials were quick to try and repair the damage. “There was only one moral line the President said that he would not cross," said a White House spokesperson, "and that is that federal taxpayer dollars should not be used in the destruction of embryos.”

A few years ago, when stem cells seemed the biggest thing on the President’s agenda, Zerhouni’s statement might have caused a massive uproar. But now it seems that it’s getting lost in all the other dramas going on, from the Scooter Libby trial to the Supreme Court case on “Bong hits 4 Jesus.” Maybe, just maybe, there’s change—or at least rebellion—brewing on the stem cell front. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to what happens next.