Hair club for men

This will make support for stem-cell research soar, you can bet!

Master cells found deep inside hair follicles might offer a new way to treat baldness and burn victims, US researchers have reported.

So far the cells have only been found in mice but there is no reason to believe they do not also exist in humans, the team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and The Rockefeller University in New York said.

The cells, known as stem cells, replace not only hair but also stretches of skin and sebaceous glands, key to healthy skin and hair, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Cell.

In this case the stem cells the researchers found are adult stem cells – immature master cells that retain the ability to change their "type" to some degree.

They are different from stem cells taken from embryos, a more controversial source.

The more important potential application, of course, is for burn victims - but never doubt the power of vanity to advance an agenda.