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Biotech Science

Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time 210

[TheBORG] writes "There are two stories on Yahoo! News about regrowing lost body parts. One is about regrowing lost fingers & limbs and the other one is about regrowing teeth. The story about regrowing lost fingers and limbs talks about the experimental use of powdered pig bladder to regrow fingers and eventually lost limbs for soldiers and others in need from information that Pentagon-funded scientists hopefully learn from studying the salamander. The story about regrowing teeth talks about how Japanese scientists used primitive cells and injected them into a framework of collagen. Once grown to a certain point, scientists implanted the growths into mice where the teeth developed normally."
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Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time

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  • well (Score:1, Insightful)

    by JeanBaptiste ( 537955 ) on Monday February 19, 2007 @05:56PM (#18073102)
    in about 15 years or so, I'm going to need a new liver.

    You guys wanna get on that? thx in advance.
  • by flaming error ( 1041742 ) on Monday February 19, 2007 @06:01PM (#18073184) Journal
    Not so strange, you say? I'm not sure which I'd prefer: a severed fingertip growing out of my palm, or some alien organism based on powdered pig bladder growing out my fingertip.
  • by BobPaul ( 710574 ) * on Monday February 19, 2007 @06:04PM (#18073270) Journal
    That's a little bit different. In your story they have the original body part that was severed and were just keeping it alive. In the article they are talking about if, say, a finger were completely lost. It was cut/blown off and couldn't be retrieved. Making a new finger requires bone, muscle, tendon, cartilage for joints, nerves, etc. Creating all of these from scratch is something we've wanted to be able to do for years, and it looks like we're making steady progress towards that end
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @06:25PM (#18073638)
    That's why I'm having my daughter excised. Oh what's that? Women are a protected class?
  • by kanweg ( 771128 ) on Monday February 19, 2007 @06:45PM (#18073994)
    Sorry, twice the brain size makes them just twice as stupid. In that, they don't differ from regular people from, say, [state suppressed].

    Bert
  • by UnrefinedLayman ( 185512 ) on Monday February 19, 2007 @07:27PM (#18074602)
    Hi, I'd like to cut off part of your dick. May I? What do you mean, no? How do you know it isn't better until you've lived both ways? I promise I will only cut off an insignificant part of your dick.

    We're talking about involuntary and medically unnecessary genital mutilation of infants. We're talking about cutting off part of your dick. That bears repeating: We're talking about taking a knife to your dick and cutting off part of your dick. The fact that you're not on your way to your nearest Rabbi right now to have part of your dick cut off entirely invalidates and undermines your position.

    Not only that, but you say You can't complain without having experienced it both ways. Oh, and if you are one of the few men that have lived both ways, your opinion doesn't matter. QED.

    What amazes me is people who say "What's the big deal?" If it's no big deal for it to happen (which requires time and effort and has no logical or medical basis) then it's certainly less of a deal not to do it at all (which requires neither time nor effort, and doing nothing does not require a reason), therefore the logical choice is not to do it. When someone is old enough to make a conscious decision to have their genitals mutilated they can feel free (can't you hear the stampede of men rushing to have it done?).

    Just remember, your lack of knowledge and understanding of the issue of male genital mutilation does not make your position the right one. You clearly demonstrate your dearth of insight (bifurcation, believing the issue is only about the possession or not of a foreskin, logical self-contradiction), so before you so quickly dismiss and insult people passionate about the topic perhaps you should try learning a thing or two first.
  • Re:Pig parts? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @07:33PM (#18074688)
    Agnostics aren't atheists. Atheists believe there is no god.

    Agnostics don't know and might not even think it matters (i.e. if there's a god, it doesn't naturally follow that there's an afterlife, and if there's no god it doesn't naturally follow that you should be anything other than a humanist, and if there's an Ori-like "worship me or go to hell" god then perhaps it's better go to go hell than live a life that favours blind worship over integrity and goodness).

    There are basically, three flavours of agnostics. Those that don't know but suspect there isn't a god, those that don't know but suspect that there is, and those that don't know and refuse to even speculate.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @08:18PM (#18075282)

    I can tell you with certainty that I and every man I know would have it done had they not gotten it done right after birth. Why would I want to see something attached to my body that looks like a shriveled up turd every day? Also, some news for you: chicks don't like it either, no matter what your wife/girlfriend tells you. You're just jealous because your mom didn't spring for the extra features.


    Now that's an insane argument. No matter what your wife/girlfriend tells you, they don't like a natural penis?
    I'm from Europe and I have never even seen a circumsized dick in my life (or heard of anyone who has it). I guess there's not enough Jews around here anymore.
    And I must say you have a problem with yourself if you think a natural penis looks like a "shriveled up turd".
    Now I don't give a shit if you or your parents keep the Jewish tradition of cutting of parts of the penis, but don't assume that the rest of the world would also like to do it.
    Personally I think it's seems like a weird tradition, but looking around the globe you will find tons of pointless illogical traditions being upheld because a grandfather did it, so whatever floats your boat I guess.
    Just don't assume that the rest of the world looks upon a particular tradition of your culture as the norm or ideal.
  • by Belial6 ( 794905 ) on Monday February 19, 2007 @09:10PM (#18075790)
    I see by your comparison of pancreatic cancer to the problems associated with not being circumcised that you are fully aware that your statement about there being no medical reason to circumcise was untrue.

    Notice that I neither said that circumcision was good nor bad. I even went so far as to say that the benefits and drawbacks can be debated. I only targeted one single point of your post that was untrue, and you validated it. In response, you made an absurd statement and tried to attribute it to me. This puts you in the camp of 'fanatic', as you ignore what you don't want to hear, and attempt to villify those that don't accept every detail of your argument. Even when it is clear that you know you are lying about some of them.

    You also show dishonesty in your argument (another indication of fanaticisms) by comparing preventative treatment between a person having major surgery for an ailment that affects .0001% of the population with one that is minor surgery (not even requiring stitches) that affects as much as 10 percent of the population.

    I will repeat again, in case you still have a hard time understanding, the benefits and drawbacks can be debated all day long, but the statement that there is no medical reason for for circumcision is unequivocally wrong.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @11:11PM (#18076872)
    Actually, many women who were mutilated as girls also claim that there is nothing wrong with the practice and don't see what the big deal is.

    Don't underestimate how the culture you're born into can affect how you view issues.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 19, 2007 @11:37PM (#18077110)

    your statement about there being no medical reason to circumcise was untrue.

    He didn't make this statement. He said that it was medically unnecessary. There is a difference between having a reason to do something and it being necessary to do something. Risks of various things happening may be lower with circumcised penises. That may constitute a reason, depending on the weight you put on the risk and the values you have, but that doesn't make it necessary.

    Quite frankly, your vitriolic attack on UnrefinedLayman while not bothering to read his comment properly (despite him/her pointing it out again) looks very much like you are over-sensitive about the issue. Taking whatever it is you are feeling out on a web forum isn't going to make those feelings go away.

  • Re:Dorsal slit. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MyIS ( 834233 ) on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @03:35AM (#18078760) Homepage

    Not to repeat the same argument over and over, but you represent an odd 0.001% of population. Does that warrant cutting the rest of people's genitals?

    People seem to want to justify their existing condition... Feels eerily like Stockholm syndrome to me. Just like was pointed out before, it's probably not that big of a deal either way; however for all the respect we have for human rights, why is cutting a tiny baby penis justified by something that is "not a big deal"?

An Ada exception is when a routine gets in trouble and says 'Beam me up, Scotty'.

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