Dept of science Charles Murtaugh responded to my post about the papers suggesting that adult stem cells are not truly pluripotent unless exposed to embryonic stem cells with a comment which you can read below. I responded to him, then went to Nature to read the abstract (reg. req.)of one of the studies quoted in the report.
The abstract clearly states that the brain cells were mixed with ESC, and that the brain cells became pluripotent through absorbing the ESC. They go on to suggest that this absorption could explain the appearance of pluripotency in cells cultured from ASCs. However, ASCs have shown multipotency without being exposed to ESCs, so I am still unsure what this study proves. Charles has promised to write on his site about this, and when he does, I'll be sure and provide a link.