The ability and desire to sort out and categorize life around and within us is a central aspect of the human experience. Modern developmental biology is no exception, and three recent papers provide a new impetus for us to rethink the ways in which science and society go about drawing boundaries in and around life and its developmental potential. Three independent groups just succeeded in the generation of mice derived entirely from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) through the most stringent test of pluripo-tency, tetraploid embryo complementation (Boland et al., 2009; Kang et al., 2009; Zhao et al., 2009). This achievement stands as the final proof that iPSCs and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), when subjected to the same developmental challenge, can be functionally equivalent.
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