Comments on: Regrowing Limbs

Regrowing Limbs

homunculus — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:40:06 -0800

Can People Regenerate Body Parts? "Progress on the road to regenerating major body parts, salamander-style, could transform the treatment of amputations and major wounds."

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:42:29 -0800

What do you mean, "progress?" I grow a tail every morning right after breakfast. HEY NOW!

By: schroedinger

schroedinger — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:07:52 -0800

Dear Science: Quit it. Seriously, this shit is starting to freak me out. Sincerely, Schroedinger

By: Hicksu

Hicksu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:19:51 -0800

I wonder how long it would take to heal/regrow an entire adult leg.

By: oddman

oddman — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:28:25 -0800

It could transform the treatment of ampuation? Oh, you think so?

By: flatluigi

flatluigi — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:38:11 -0800

Talking about regenerating limbs always creeps me out. I read a short sf story a long time ago where people started trying to 'regrow' things they didn't have in the first place. The story ended in a messy description of what can be briefly described as a 'catastrophic breakdown.' Echh. (but, people pools aside, this is interesting and would be quite a breakthrough.)

By: L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg

L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:19 -0800

Give those scientists a hand!

By: bunnytricks

bunnytricks — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:56:05 -0800

Seems like regrowing a limb would be way high on the list of most excruciatingly painful experiences possible. Normal growing pains are bad enough, but to have muscle, bone, and tendon straining themselves to the limit for however many months it would take to reform the limb... Ouch. I propose that instead of funding torturous limb regeneration research, labs should be working on chrome plated replacement limbs. Preferably with pop up laser guns for the forearms and jump jets in the feet.

By: CheshireCat

CheshireCat — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:58:03 -0800

On the bright side, this sort of levels the playing field against the imminent threat of BigDog rending your leg from its socket in your maddened attempts to kick the diabolical black devil machine over so you can flee to the relative safety of one of the last remaining human outposts. You can just regrow that leg again. And your arm. and spleen... and shattered spinal column.... Oh, Science!, what fearsome whimsies wont you pursue?

By: ®@

®@ — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:05:30 -0800

So... is this one of those always-in-twenty-years things? The article seems a bit vague (granted, I only read pages 1 and 6, because I need to go get dinner).

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:14:13 -0800

Paging Dr. Connors, paging Dr. Curt Connors to the lab.

By: francesca too

francesca too — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:28:19 -0800

"An adult salamander can regenerate a lost arm or leg this way over and over again, regardless of how many times the part is amputated." I now have in my brain this image of a deranged human chopping a salamander's limb everyday, lovingly feeding the salamander everyday, to again chop a limb off next day, ad infinitum. Ugh!

By: danhon

danhon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:39:58 -0800

It's quite hard to not read that article in the style of a Mohinder Suresh annoying voiceover.

By: signalnine

signalnine — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:49:56 -0800

Man, L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg, you sure are on a roll today.

By: twins named Lugubrious and Salubrious

twins named Lugubrious and Salubrious — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:03:29 -0800

This is awesome. Please life, imitate art.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:09:57 -0800

"Why, he's grown a foot since I saw him the last time."

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:18:47 -0800

By: monkee

monkee — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:24:53 -0800

Id like my hair back

By: Static Vagabond

Static Vagabond — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:25:27 -0800

Ted Talks: Alan Russell: Why can't we grow new body parts? Feb '06.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:30:51 -0800

Nonononononono. I want cybernetic limbs to perform feats of manly bravery.

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:37:20 -0800

I now have in my brain this image of a deranged human chopping a salamander's limb everyday, lovingly feeding the salamander everyday, to again chop a limb off next day, ad infinitum. Ugh! It would be even better if what the salamander is being fed every day is its own limb.

By: maryh

maryh — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:37:44 -0800

This will revolutionize cannibalism!

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:37:58 -0800

I now have in my brain this image of a deranged human chopping a salamander's limb everyday, lovingly feeding the salamander everyday, to again chop a limb off next day, ad infinitum. Ugh! And it opens up new horizons of torture and interrogation! "No, don't dismember me... again!"

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:41:02 -0800

I don't think "hair" is a body part, technically.

By: cdmckay

cdmckay — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:24:53 -0800

CBS story with a video of the dude mentioned in the Sci-Am article (Lee Spievak) who regrew an inch of his middle finger. Cool stuff.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:31:20 -0800

flatluigi - that's a really legitimate concern. Sure, you can get terminal cells (?) to start dividing again or reset stem cells to growth phase; but how do you tell them to stop? Besides, you'd have to tell the regenerating limb how far to grow. Lost a leg? Regrow it. Too bad it's 20 centimeters shorter than your other leg. brain_drain - it' very likely that there are scores (hundreds, tens of hundreds?) of grad students studying regeneration in amphibians who do exactly that. maryh - finally a test to see if you really are what you eat?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:04:38 -0800

I now have in my brain this image of a deranged human chopping a salamander's limb everyday, lovingly feeding the salamander everyday, to again chop a limb off next day, ad infinitum. As Sisyphus-salamanders to wanton scientists are we to the gods; They amputate us for their sport.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:34:56 -0800

So chop my head off and let me regrow from the neck down. Oh, first, wire my head into a computer so I can at least type on Metafilter while waiting for regrowth to complete.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:03:45 -0800

So humans can already regenerate our fingertips it they are amputated - complete with finger prints and sensation? That, in itself, was a pretty cool medical revelation to me.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:20:06 -0800

For amputees, an unlikely painkiller: Mirrors

By: TedW

TedW — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:56:33 -0800

This research was funded in part by a grant from the John Wayne Bobbitt medical foundation.

By: Zinger

Zinger — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:08:35 -0800

As Sisyphus-salamanders to wanton scientists are we to the gods; They amputate us for their sport. Prometheus would be more appropriate here I think. He's the one that regrew the liver daily for the vulture to tear out.

By: greatgefilte

greatgefilte — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:53:38 -0800

I'm surprised the article didn't mention the MRL mouse. It seems like the closest a mammal's ever gotten to being like a salamander. And it's furry.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:24:02 -0800

Prometheus would be more appropriate here I think. Probably. By the time I hit post, I wasn't quite sure what I was trying to get across, there.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:08:12 -0800

Tooth Regeneration May Replace Drill-and-Fill

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:13:34 -0800

We love you homunculus!

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:50:34 -0800

Aww, you just made my withered heart come back to life!

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:51:27 -0800

Stem Cell Research Is Growing Again