You've read the news about stem cells and the experts' comments. "It's the beginning of the end of the controversy," is how Dr. James Thomson put it. He ought to know because he created the first human embryonic stem cell line nearly 10 years ago and led one of the two research teams that developed new stem cells from mature skin cells.

I've covered stem cells for about seven years now. In that time, I have received hundreds of news releases from researchers and companies touting their discovery of "adult stem cells that work just as well as embryonic stem cells, but without all the controversy." Some extremely legit - like Dr. Helen Blau's research at Stanford that turned nerve cells into different nerve cells. And some less proved. Remember "stem cells from fat"?

Until now adult stem cells - cells taken from skin or bone marrow or the heart - were able to be coaxed into only a few other types of cells. Embryonic stem cells, taken from four or five day old existing embryos, have the ability to turn into any cell in the body. But that destroys the embryo and brings on controversy. Creating brand new, personalized embryonic stem cells still hasn't been done in humans. The process to create them is cloning, and that leads to another huge controversy altogether.

Legitimate researchers on the adult and embryonic stem cell side have agreed on two points for a long time: Politics are interfering with good research and research on both types of cells must continue. Tuesday's breakthrough with adult stem cells did not change that. We might find that those created in the new way work better for certain diseases and embryonic cells for others.

But the politics and limited funding have severely slowed progress in the field. Six years ago, President Bush decided to allow very limited federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. People who were sick then and are still waiting for a cure know how slow progress has been.

The speed of progress with stem cells should now change dramatically. For more than a year many labs have been working on creating these types of new cells, ever since Dr. Shinya Yamanaka published a paper last year showing what these cells can do in mice. Now that research by the teams of Yamanaka and Thomson shows that human cells can be reprogrammed too, many more labs will want to work on this. Federal funding for adult stem cell research is easier to come by.

"This opens this up to a huge field," according to Dr. John Gearhart, a long-time stem cell researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He says now researchers "don't have to learn how to work with embryonic stem cells" because it's a simple process to create these new stem cells. "This is going to become a very common technology."

What Thomson and Yamanaka still need to figure out is how closely these new stem cells resemble those taken from embryos. Thomson expects that will take another year or two.

Are these new cells safe to be transplanted into humans? That still has to be determined. So it's unlikely we'll see humans treated with these cells any time soon.

According to Dr. George Dalay, director of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, "No one knows when, if ever, human stem cells will be placed into patients," but this breakthrough makes "stem cells as tools for research immediately valuable." Scientists will use these stem cells to study diseases in a petri dish. Drug research is another area where these new stem cells will have immediate application.

Both types of research will continue - controversial and non-controversial. Without the knowledge gained from the last decade of embryonic stem cell research, these new stem cells couldn't have been created Thomson told reporters.

And as Gearhart told me, "I think there was a small group of us (stem cell researchers) years ago, who thought the information we would get from stem cells would be more important than the embryonic stem cells themselves."

It may still take a few years to get actual results in people from these tiny cells. But progess should be made a little faster now.

Do you know an autistic adult?

Since first meeting 27-year-old Amanda Baggs at her home in Vermont, I've asked just about everyone I know this very question. Surprisingly few people have met adults with autism, but an overwhelming majority knows a child living with the disorder.

That's no surprise, given that the latest CDC statistics say 1 in 150 children has autism. Boys alone have a 1 out of 94 chance of developing it. The rise may be due, at least in part, to a broader awareness and diagnostic criteria under autism spectrum disorder. But without a doubt, the numbers mean a whole new generation of children will be growing up with autism.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and our team have done many stories on autism over the years. Much of our reporting focuses on one approach - detect and treat as early as possible. Everything from behavioral therapy to autism's possible relation to vaccines to alternative therapies including surfing, auditory processing or even swimming with dolphins. That's because much of the research on autism is focused solely on identifying it and intervening while a child is still young. For most parents and doctors, helping an autistic child is about reducing their autistic symptoms and behaving more like a typical, non-autistic child.

But we wanted to find out what happens to those people who don't change, those who go on to live with their autism with all of its challenges and all of its joys. That's when we met Amanda Baggs. She's a young woman living without a guardian. She may not be able to speak or form words in the traditional sense, but she has a loud message for the world when it comes to autism and disabled people. From her small town in Vermont, she has made a name for herself on the Internet. We first profiled her in February. For hundreds of thousands of viewers, she redefined what it means to be autistic. Click here to watch Amanda Baggs, "In My Language" and here to read her responses to viewers.

Amanda Baggs has a strong message for parents of autistic children. She types as a computer voice reads her words: "Listen to other autistic people. In fact, expose autistic children to a wide variety of autistic adults. It may be the autistic adults who do have either typing or speech who are far more equipped to be able to communicate with other autistic people."

It's such a basic concept - introducing young autistic boys and girls to autistic men and women. But finding older autistic individuals is often the last thing on parents' minds when their son or daughter's autism is diagnosed. Jenny McCarthy, actress and bestselling author of "Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," was one of them. She recently appeared on CNN's Larry King Live.

Jenny McCarthy and Larry King aren't the only ones who are trying to learn more about the process of raising a child with autism. As I reported from the "Autism National Committee" annual meeting last month, parents told me that there is an acceptance process with autism. Louisa Smith, mother of a 5-year-old, told me that she was still in the sad phase of her son's diagnosis. "I just want him to live a happy life. There are actually happy adults here living with autism. I didn't think that was possible when they first told me he was autistic."

Scientifically, so little is known about autism. We don't know the precise cause. There is no cure or proven prevention. On a human level, there is so much knowledge to be learned. Tonight, you'll meet Amanda Baggs and people like her in Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special report "Finding Amanda." She will be your guide into the world of living an autistic life to the fullest.

by Ben Leach
CNN Medical Intern

I was barely 16, in biology class - and had to run. Literally. Imagine getting your hand on the hall pass - desperate to go - only to find the boy's room locked, to keep out smokers. You have no idea what that means to a guy with Crohn's disease. Another time, I had to be taken out of class in a wheelchair.

I'm just one out of 25 million Americans living with a chronic disease. The CDC says seven out of every 10 people Americans die a year from them. I was just 16 years old when I was told I had Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease usually diagnosed in patients between the ages of 18 and 35. About half a million Americans suffer from the same thing - another half a million suffer from its GI cousin, colitis. Symptoms include abdominal and rectal pain and diarrhea. It's a disease you can manage, but not cure. For me, a high school sophomore, I lost weight and felt weak and experienced a laundry list of humiliating symptoms from abscesses in my posterior to constant trips to the bathroom. I went from perfect attendance in school to missing weeks of class at a time. I had no clear idea what was happening to my body, and I wondered - and feared - about my future.

But as confusing for a kid as the diagnosis was, the treatment course also was difficult. I was prescribed a corticosteroid to reduce inflammation, which on faith - and, doctor's orders - I took every day. Bad call. Not only did it not manage the progression of my disease or make me feel better, it caused bone loss - and I ended up with osteoporosis as a teenager. Later, I was given an infusion that worked wonders for a time, but eventually my body developed antibodies to it.

So there I was - sick - with treatments that didn't help me - they hurt me. But I learned something very valuable. I learned to speak up. I sought out a doctor who knew something about Crohn's disease. I found treatments that worked, and by late in my junior year in college, I had my disease under control.

I was determined not to let others make the same mistakes I made. I started training in a local pharmacy to become a pharmacy technician because I wanted to learn more about medicine. I learned about an array of drugs - not just the ones I was taking. I realized I wasn't alone, and had plenty of firsthand knowledge to share both as a patient and behind the counter.

I also found I had a passion for medical reporting, which brought me to CNN's medical unit. I have learned that it's ultimately all about asking questions. When my disease was diagnosed, I wasn't asking nearly enough questions. Now, working alongside journalists and researching stories, I've found answers: My personal agony as a patient has made me realize I want to be asking the questions that help others with chronic diseases find their own solutions as I continue my path to medical reporting.

Living with a chronic illness forces you to find your own definition of "normal." I spend a good deal of time looking at statistics - I knew I didn't want to be one of them - and on education and sharing information. It's my way of not being just a number, but living my life - and living well - with Crohn's disease.

Do you live with a chronic disease? What's worked for you? We'd love to hear from you.