Surgeon: First Human Head Transplant May Be Just Two Years Away 210
HughPickens.com (3830033) writes "Michelle Star writes at C/net that Surgeon Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy, believes he has developed a technique to remove the head from a non-functioning body and transplant it onto the healthy body. According to Canavero's paper published in Surgical Neurology International, first, both the transplant head and the donor body need to be cooled in order to slow cell death. Then, the neck of both would be cut and the major blood vessels linked with tubes. Finally, the spinal cords would be severed, with as clean a cut as possible. Joining the spinal cords, with the tightly packed nerves inside, is key. The plan involves flushing the area with polyethylene glycol, followed by several hours of injections of the same, a chemical that encourages the fat in cell membranes to mesh. The blood vessels, muscles and skin would then be sutured and the patient would be induced into a coma for several weeks to keep them from moving around; meanwhile, electrodes would stimulate the spine with electricity in an attempt to strengthen the new nerve connections.
Head transplants has been tried before. In 1970, Robert White led a team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US, that tried to transplant the head of one monkey on to the body of another. The surgeons stopped short of a full spinal cord transfer, so the monkey could not move its body. Despite Canavero's enthusiasm, many surgeons and neuroscientists believe massive technical hurdles push full body transplants into the distant future. The starkest problem is that no one knows how to reconnect spinal nerves and make them work again. "This is such an overwhelming project, the possibility of it happening is very unlikely," says Harry Goldsmith."
Head transplants has been tried before. In 1970, Robert White led a team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US, that tried to transplant the head of one monkey on to the body of another. The surgeons stopped short of a full spinal cord transfer, so the monkey could not move its body. Despite Canavero's enthusiasm, many surgeons and neuroscientists believe massive technical hurdles push full body transplants into the distant future. The starkest problem is that no one knows how to reconnect spinal nerves and make them work again. "This is such an overwhelming project, the possibility of it happening is very unlikely," says Harry Goldsmith."
Just y'know... reconnect them spinal nerves (Score:5, Insightful)
Just reconnect the spinal nerves? This is like saying interstellar spaceships are just two years away. Just connect the warp drive to the antimatter, and there you go.
Perhaps we should start by inventing a warp drive first? Or in this case, connecting severed spinal columns?
Re:Just y'know... reconnect them spinal nerves (Score:5, Insightful)
I do think they could practice on paralysed people first - after all, if they can't reconnect severed spinal cord nerves in someone whose spinal cord is roughly still in place, what hope do they have for merging 2 different spinal cords?
Re: (Score:2)
I do think they could practice on paralysed people first - after all, if they can't reconnect severed spinal cord nerves in someone whose spinal cord is roughly still in place, what hope do they have for merging 2 different spinal cords?
And that would be because paralyzed people are less human or less valuable? How about practicing and perfecting it on rats first, then higher animals?
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Oh, I don't know ... how about we spare the rats, and test on lawyers, MBAs, politicians, lobbyists, and CEOs?
Make the world a better place in more than one way.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re: (Score:2)
It's based on the concept that a doctor should first 'Do no harm.' Let's say there are two people experiencing organ failure, one paralyzed, one not. In such a case, the probable outcome for the able-bodied person is worse than the paralyzed person. It would even be a net benefit for the paralyzed person if some limb function is restored, whereas for the able-bodied person it would inevitably result in decreased motor function at best.
If the surgery on a paralyzed person is successful, with respect to li
Re: (Score:2)
I don't disagree, but human testing usually only follows after successful animal testing. So, even a paralytic, isn't do "no harm" if we don't know whether we can actually do this or not. Once we know it can be done, well then, a paralytic would seem to be the one to benefit most. But, until then, we would just be experimenting on handicapped human beings for the sake of gaining research knowledge. Most medical ethicists would say that is unethical.
Re: (Score:2)
But that goes without saying! Who would be fool enough to opt for a transplant if the part that's going to be swapped out is perfectly healthy. I mean heart transplants are for people with unhealthy hearts. Ditto for kidneys, livers, etc. So a potential body transplant would be for people with unhealthy bodies. Note that I used the word body tranplant, since our heads or at least the gray matter inside it, is what defines us as a person.
I think by the time they figure out how to successfully transplant whol
after all, they can't go anywhere (Score:2)
yea, great idea, it's not like they can run! bwahahaa..
Re:Just y'know... reconnect them spinal nerves (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem, even with a spinal cord cut intentionally and carefully, is that the surgeon has no way to know what connections in the head go to what connections in the body. Our nervous system-brain interface isn't a blueprinted thing at birth, our brains are actually born with no knowledge of the nerves running through our bodies. Our brains and bodies learn to interface with one another via "neural pruning." The brain is born with a bazillion* neurons, far more than it needs, but this is to account for all the possible nerve connections. Then, as the body grows, the nerves send signals to the brain, and those neurons that don't receive signals die off [mxplx.com], leaving the neurons that are properly wired into the body. In other words, our brains grow by natural selection [mxplx.com].
So how is a surgeon supposed to wire up a body to a brain that hasn't grown into that body? How is a brain pruned in childhood to interface with a body of certain dimensions and nerve-wirings supposed to interface with a body of completely different dimensions? It's not just a problem of lining up the nerves in the donor body with the right connections in the patient's head (a seemingly impossible task in and of itself), its the fact that the nerves in one person's body are going to be a very different set of wires than those in the the head. Many of the major nerves will match, but the signals from those nerves will be very different.
I wish this researcher the best of luck, and I imagine we will benefit tremendously from the new information we get from this research, but I suspect the final result will simply discover what the next challenge is to performing a successful head transplant.
*Technical term. :)
Need nanobots first (Score:3)
Your comment is probably the most insightful here.
Even with extreme optimism about neurplasticity and nerve cells sliced in the middle (not separated at the synapses but chopped like a stalk of celery) deciding to attach to other sliced neurons, the idea of taking one spinal cord and gluing it to another spinal cord and having ANYTHING line up right seems absurd to me. Talk about a registration problem! I suspect the only way to do it would be to be to perform microscopic surgery where tiny machines conne
Re: (Score:2)
I think that is the idea behind the 'electrical pulses' the plan is to depend on neural plasticity, I would guess. The idea is you keep the patient comatose, stimulate nerves all over the body and up and down the spine. This should tetanize various groups of nerves, "cells the fire together wire together" with some luck the brain with figure it out.
Seems suspect to me, but IAMNANS
Re: (Score:3)
If this guy had the technology to repair severed spinal cords, he'd already be a Nobel candidate. It is one of the Holy Grails of neurology / neurosurgery. Think of all the paraplegics and quadriplegics you could rescue using those techniques.
Millions of rats have died trying to get us that information.
Re: (Score:2)
So how is a surgeon supposed to wire up a body to a brain that hasn't grown into that body?
Seems like what you need is a way to replicate that original process and let the brain re-learn its interface.
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds like he's simply hoping it all sorts itself out somehow. Or maybe that the brain could eventually remap everything. Seems unlikely. Especially within two years.
The basic idea would be physiotherapy afterwards to make the brain re-learn how to move the body
Re:Just y'know... reconnect them spinal nerves (Score:5, Interesting)
So, here's the problem with that ... in addition to motor skills, your spinal column handles all of the autonomic stuff ... you know, heart beat, digestion, breathing, all that stuff which is controlled by the brain.
If you don't have those things connected properly, you will die. Plain and simple. This is leaps and bounds beyond physiotherapy. This is the entire function of your body which is controlled by the brain, which, last I checked, is pretty much all of it.
This isn't something where you can jam the two ends together and wait a few years until your brain remaps everything. Not unless you plan on keeping someone on extensive life support until the brain re-learns how to tell all of those other parts how to operate the body.
I just don't see this being viable, not unless you plan on spending zillions of dollars to keep someone alive until possibly the brain remaps some connections.
In which case this is a "treatment" which is only ever going to be viable for billionaires, because the resources to keep them alive in the mean time would be utterly staggering.
If all you're doing is designing a treatment for billionaires ... well, experiment on the billionaires then.
Re: Just y'know... reconnect them spinal nerves (Score:5, Informative)
Not exactly. Some organ systems have controls that are a bit more local. That's why a quadriplegic can still digest food and have a beating heart, but needs a ventilator unless he had enough nerve connectivity remaining post-injury to breathe on his own. It's also why someone who's paralyzed can still have sex & enjoy it (even though he can't feel the orgasm).
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously, I will defer to someone with better grasp of the physiology here ... because this isn't my field.
But I think it's fair to say that connecting the spinal cord is going to need more remediation than simple physiotherapy.
Hawking (Score:3, Insightful)
I recently read an article that was essentially "how could Steven Hawking have kids", and somebody with a similar condition basically stated that while you lose motor functions elsewhere, that particular part of the anatomy tends to work [quora.com] as it's part of the Parasympathetic nervous system [wikipedia.org]
Mod parent "misinformation" (Score:3, Informative)
Or, you know, you could be talking out of your ass.
The reason the parasympathetic system control of the heart and digestion continues to function in a case of a transected spinal cord is that CN X doesn't run in the spinal column. Instead, it comes out and runs down the neck roughly along the path of the jugular vein.
Far from being "local control", the root of CN X is in the medulla. The brainstem.
Here, educate yourself rather than spreading misinformation: Vagus Nerve [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Sort of depends. They could make the cut high in the brainstem, above where most of the autonomic functions are located. That would technically be *much* harder than the plain ol spinal cord - which, of course, is the hard part as it is. Just connecting the major blood vessels and bones is pretty easy all things considered.
It's just a scam to keep somebody happily screwing around in the lab, mostly torturing rodents.
And we've already discussed how dangerous that can be [slashdot.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Has there been even one instance of a spinal cord severed by trauma being reconnected?
Re: (Score:2)
Has there been even one instance of a spinal cord severed by trauma being reconnected?
Try this article [medicalnewstoday.com]. Or you could have answered the question yourself by searching for "severed spinal chord repaired."
There are also similar cases where the spinal chord has been cut cleanly and with time, partial mobility has been regained.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed, the spinal nerves get where they are during fetal development, and slicing through them pretty thoroughly kills off the distal parts of the axons (Wallerian degeneration). If this could be done now, then there wouldn't be any paraplegic or quadriplegic people. And then what are they going to do about tissue rejection, when the tissue being rejected is the entire head?
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed, the spinal nerves get where they are during fetal development, and slicing through them pretty thoroughly kills off the distal parts of the axons (Wallerian degeneration). If this could be done now, then there wouldn't be any paraplegic or quadriplegic people. And then what are they going to do about tissue rejection, when the tissue being rejected is the entire head?
Pretty much this, although I suspect cloning a body made from your own cell(s) will be plausible at or before spinal nerves are fused successfully.
I'd be more pleased if they'd move forward on this body part cloning research before I need a heart, lung, or liver.
Re: (Score:2)
Seconded. We've already made huge leaps in using adult derived stem cells to regrow tissues and entire organs that don't have rejection issues and function properly, actual transplants will probably be obsolete by the time this procedure is possible.
Re: (Score:2)
We are able to at least partially repair severed spinal cords now. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284152.php [medicalnewstoday.com]. That's a lot further along than a couple of years ago.
It may not be perfection, and connecting one spinal cord to another might not even match up the nerves, but there is progress being made. And we might get a complete repair treatment out of this.
Re: (Score:2)
If I remember correctly, the guy has a technique that has been shown effective in mice. Still hardly a guarantee it'll work in humans, but it's a start. Part of it has to do with a clean cut, rather than trauma, severing the code.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
" with a clean cut, rather than trauma, severing the code."
That's going to be an interesting SVN commit.
Re: (Score:2)
You must be a project manager or stakeholder in on an AGILE project team. LOL
Re: (Score:2)
The same is true for curing cancer, every genetic disorder, and every viral disease.
Also, we don't even know if a solution exists.
I know that novel (Score:2)
the neck of both would be cut and the major blood vessels linked with tubes. Finally, the spinal cords would be severed, with as clean a cut as possible. Joining the spinal cords, with the tightly packed nerves inside, is key. The plan involves flushing the area with polyethylene glycol, followed by several hours of injections of the same, a chemical that encourages the fat in cell membranes to mesh
That's Frankenstein. Any one really believed TFA was a true story??
Re:I know that novel (Score:4, Funny)
"That's Frankenstein. "
First, that's _Doctor_ Frankenstein.
Victor, for my friends.
An it's pronounced Frank-on-steen!
strange futuristic creatures (Score:2)
Like something with the body of a crab and the head of a Social Worker?
Sleeper [imdb.com]
How about healing spinal cord injuries first? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, are the people who cleam this serious? I don't think so.
Re: (Score:3)
We are able to at least partially repair them now. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284152.php [medicalnewstoday.com]. That's a lot further along than a couple of years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
"Right now, we can't even repair spinal cord injuries where head and body belong to the same person. Once that becomes a routine medical procedure, we might think about head transplants and how to solve the problems associated with them."
That may very well be, but there are no people with spine injuries on the boards that decide about the grants to scientists, but many old people with a need for a young body.
Re: (Score:2)
Right now, we can't even repair spinal cord injuries where head and body belong to the same person. Once that becomes a routine medical procedure, we might think about head transplants and how to solve the problems associated with them.
/quote>
However, there are way less people with spinal cord injuries and a lot of money than people with a working head, a failing body and a lot of money.
Unlimited money does wonders on time compression.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
To be fair, the guy outlines a process to cleanly sever and then prepare the nerves for reattachment under a very controlled environment, which is an entirely different thing from a spinal cord being damaged in an accident out in the world.
That said, the whole idea is terrifying and if his end goal is literally making head swaps a somewhat common procedure nothing good will come of this. In order to make this possible you need bodies after all, and if this can extend the life of the transplant-ee by a sign
Re: (Score:2)
This isn't like pursuing heart transplants before being able to fix each and every heart defect. It's like pursuing heart transplants before being able to do surgical sutures.
Send in the clones! (Score:2)
Mark my words (Score:5, Interesting)
One day there will be trillions of humans on this planet, brains only, connected to a huge computer, and all dreaming of a body of their own.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure about futurama, but yes matrix is related, but only a bit. First, the setup is far more dense, brains only, second, humans know that they dont have the real thing, and they are also generally in control of things around. Visiting "The real thing" is however possible only for a few (the rich), as earth would be overpopulated otherwise. Its former oceans and most of the landmass are already filled up with the VR machine, so only a small fraction remains for to have fun in.
ob.Heinlein (Score:3)
Please read "I Will Fear No Evil" to see how all this turns out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
A.
It's a body transplant, not a head transplant... (Score:5, Informative)
The first thing they need to do is start calling it a body transplant, not a head transplant. The living person got a new body, the dead person did not get a new head.
Pat
Re: (Score:3)
NIXON'S BACK!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The first thing they need to do is start calling it a body transplant, not a head transplant. The living person got a new body, the dead person did not get a new head.
Pat
Reminds me of George Carlins' near miss routine.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends which way you look at it. :-)
tax deduction (Score:2)
if I add a second head as a new dependent?
offtopic: I do like the menu moving to the top of the page but think you still need to provide a little more border on the LHS.
OR-gan-leg-gers OR-gan-leg-gers... (Score:3)
Well, heck. Now that we've mastered that pesky matter of grafting severed spinal cords, surely the optic nerve and other lesser bundles should be a piece of cake. So why not just do a brain transplant?
Anubis? Is that you?
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, if you're transplanting the entire head, the optic nerves should already be intact. Just sayin'...
Re: (Score:3)
What if you don't like your head? Ugly people could have their brains transplanted into pretty people. Think of the potential for sex changes too! Then just as there's a market for stealing kidneys, there will arise a market for stealing whole bodies. You don't have to steal a rich person's digital identity. You can steal their WHOLE LIFE. Mind you, you'd have to study up really hard on every detail of their life and even learn to imitate their accent and speach patterns exactly, so their friends don'
Life Extension? (Score:2)
Leg, Arm? (Score:3)
Proof this guy is crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
TLDR: Skip to the last paragraph for the best part. I didn't find it until I wrote all this up.
Since this is the 2nd Slashdot summary talking about this seemingly wacky procedure, I I decided to look into him a bit. Unfortunately the hard transplant stuff is 99.99% of what the search results return. He even gave a TED talk [tedxlimassol.com] on the topic of human consciousness. It is possible this guy is just trolling to sell his recent philosophy book since he left his job as a neurosurgeon.
Dr Canavero believes that the brain does not generate consciousness, but only filters it. His goal is to open the filter and see what lies beyond.
Perhaps the fields of neurosurgery and chiropractic draw people who have a fascination with human consciousness, like how some chiropractors think that they can cure any disease by cracking your back?
He claims to be part of the "Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group" which is "a Think Tank for the advancement of neuromodulation." It looks like that group is just him, and perhaps one colleage named "Vincenzo Bonicalzi MD" who co-authored a book with him in 2007. Together they wrote "Central Pain Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis and Management" [amazon.com] But in 2014 Dr Canavero self published "Immortal: Why CONSCIOUSNESS is NOT in the BRAIN [amazon.com]". If you read the summary, it looks like your metaphysical philosophy.
The best part: Doctor Canavero and his "group" believe that through a combination of electrical stimulation and head transplants that he can create a society of perfect immortal beings [openscience.com].
FIrst step toward feasible long term space travel? (Score:2)
If you think about it, if we can eventually place the brain in a container that can withstand the vacuum of space and harsh climates on other planets, we could solve some of the logistics of traveling to Mars and beyond.
So as crazy as this sounds, it could be a first step toward practical space travel.
This is WONDERFUL! (Score:2)
Trouble losing weight? Nooooo problem anymore!
Trying to sell black market organs? Forget all that nasty slicing and dicing; just grab the entire bag instead.
Lawsuit deniability: *I* didn't hold that gun on the bank teller. The hand in that body did. (probably only works for the first few lawsuits though.)
I guess they use Futurarama's Head-in-a-Jar while they're swapping heads?
Gives a whole new worry in the bar scene, though: "Hey girl, you've got a
The Head of Vecna (Score:3)
Whats the value proposition here? (Score:3)
I know brain injuries for events like near downing occasional leave bodies that can recover to health but the brain so damaged they will never escape a vegetative state. Certainly other brain injuries due to head knocks etc can have similar results.
How many of these bodies are really available? Hollywood would have us believe quite a lot but I am not sure that is the case.
That said how many of these potential donators are really out there ethically speaking? The body deteriorates when we are talking about a persistent vegetative state requiring feeding tubes and ventilators and such. Can we, will we in the foreseeable future be able to better identify when the patients brain won't recover. Right now there is already a financial incentive to pull the plug. What will happen to these patients who can't speak for themselves when those making decisions for them are under pressure to give their body to someone else? Will these lead to prematurely giving up on some folks?
Seems like there should be some lower hanging fruit to go after in terms of modern medicine than head swaps. In fact just focusing reconnecting the sever spinal cord in the same monkey without adding the additional trauma and unknowns associated with the rest of the head swap would probably do more to help the disabled, which I am sure far out number the persistently comatose.
Waitaminute (Score:2)
I think I've seen this movie before [imdb.com]. It doesn't end well.
Re: (Score:2)
I think I prefer Steve Martin's The Man wth Two Brains.
Just in time! (Score:2)
Forget stealing organs (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
ISIS is half way scientific (Score:2)
Does this mean ISIS is doing science after all? Have we misjudged them? They can do half of this procedure, we just have to wait until they can do the other half.
I dunno...Abby Someone (Score:2)
Commercial rejuvenation (Score:2)
I see companies in the future that offer new bodies to old people. I would love to have a 20 year old body with my 60 year old head. I would dump my hubbie and find a younger one.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, the coffee making me jittery (and the ADHD).
The coffee making the ADHD jittery?
The coffee making you the ADHD?
The coffee making both you and the jittery, ADHD?
Futurama did it (Score:2)
Richard Nixon almost won an election with Bender's body.
Re: (Score:2)
Mod this "Arooooo!" I'm meeting you half way, you stupid hippies!
Re: (Score:2)
What if a body is not available yet?
"Sorry, the only donor body available was of the opposite gender. Enjoy your new parts!"
I can assure you that there are plenty of volunteers who would have no problem with that.
Re: (Score:2)
Guess that explains how many people manage to talk out of their asses. Sorry, Mr. AC, but brain activity is entirely restricted to that thing in your head. I BELIEVE you were trying to say that your brain does not work in isolation from the rest of the body, which is true. Our brains work on the input from the rest of the body. Change the body, and the chemical messages to the brain will be different.
as for taking on the p
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Mary Shelley tried to warn us of this a long time ago.
No, she did not. Also, Nostradamus didn't predict Hitler or the September 11th attacks. As for the ethics of the issue, that's a tough one. I agree with you that there "may" be a black market for this, eventually. This isn't like getting a gunshot wound treated at a back-alley clinic. With proper regulations, it can be controlled in a safe, ethical manner.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Too much. (Score:5, Insightful)
It goes against all the laws of nature
If you mean to say I personally don't like the idea then just come out and say it. Don't waste our time with the 'laws of nature' garbage.
Re:Too much. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sitting in front of an electrical box that sends out signals to billions of people everyday is also against the "laws of nature."
Please live up to your own lame excuse for why this shouldn't be and stop sitting in front of that box.
Actually, computers and the internet, etc. do follow the laws of nature, quite well. Technically speaking, everything we do follows the law of nature, otherwise it would be miraculous. That said, it still doesn't address the morality of the issue.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes but I have to warn you, it seems resistant to sex.
Re: Wrong title (Score:2, Insightful)
And where do you (legitimately) find a "healthy body" without a head?
Re: (Score:2)
And where do you (legitimately) find a "healthy body" without a head?
Suicides, drug overdoses, co2 poisoning, accidents, back alleys :-)
Re: (Score:3)
And where do you (legitimately) find a "healthy body" without a head?
Motorcycle riders.
That's right, folks, when you get your Class M1 license, be sure to check the organ donor box.
Re:Congress (Score:5, Funny)
Any word on removing non-functioning human heads and planting them on perfectly good bodies?
Coincidentally, Sports Illustrated devotes a whole issue to that every year.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Those heads are perfectly functional ... for the only functions anyone is really interested in employing them in.
Fit for use, as it were.
Re:Congress (Score:5, Insightful)
From the perspective of the head it's a body transplant.
The body typically has no perspective of its own
so the idea of a head transplant is ludicrously funny [youtube.com].
We laugh to drown out the screaming inside.
Those heads are perfectly functional
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends [youtube.com]
We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside
Come inside, the show's about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
Greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along.
[...]
Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops' heads in jars
Re:Congress (Score:4, Funny)
Even worse:
Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner in swimsuits, making out.
Now imagine their secret love child.
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting, I didn't know that if someone had a beautiful body they had a non-functional brain.
That's one of the advantages of having a beautiful body.
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting, I didn't know that if someone had a beautiful body they had a non-functional brain.
That's one of the advantages of having a beautiful body.
Unfortunately, one disadvantage is usually the math: Beauty x Brains = Constant
Re: (Score:2)
"Well, those clowns in congress did it again! What a bunch of clowns!"
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No. The human brain is not made to last.
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.o... [oxfordjournals.org]
Even with VERY mature stem cell based regenerative medicine, there is going to be problems with the buildup of neurotoxic metabolites within the brain over time, This is essentially what alzheimer's disease is (but the jury is still out on weather the creation of amyloid beta plaques and/or tau tangles is causal or symptomatic.)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... [sciencedirect.com]
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... [sciencedirect.com]
The brain does not seem to have a very good
"superstars" really can have those 20yo bodys: (Score:2)
You mean Jagger will "Move like Jagger" again?
(And, I'm having a Freejack flashback. Vacendak wants his new body too.)
Re: (Score:2)
It stems from a very general human response to want those they don't like to die. Even if it means those they love die sooner.
Whenever this subject comes up, there always seem to be comments like: "We can't let this $group-of-bastards escape death!"
That, of course, ignores that $group-of-bastards is usually a small minority compared to the larger number of people who would benefit.
This very argument was made when our now fairly common transplant surgeries were first attempted.
Re: (Score:2)
Not a fan of the mighty ducks trilogy? :)
How his brother Charlie ever became a star is a bigger mystery.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Can I get a body with a big penis? Something like what this guy has would be great thanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
No problem - thank you for volunteering to be the first human to have your head transplanted onto a dolphin.