Could your mother’s own cells help to cure your diabetes? A report in the January issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that Mom’s cells mightbe trying, although they’re obviously not succeeding very well. [Maybe Mom just never understood you after all.]

Researchers have known for some time that cells from a mother and a fetus can be exchanged through the circulation. Some of these cells persist for years afterward: for example, you can find male cells...