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Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time

[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."

19 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. I'm an idiot! by BobPaul · · Score: 4, Funny

    Once grown to a certain point, scientists implanted the growths into mice where the teeth developed normally.
    On reading this I thought: "Why don't they just implant the teeth directly into people? Mice have tiny heads, and it would save a step!" D'OH!
  2. Pig parts? by Apocalypse111 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how the Muslim and Jewish communities would react to this technology, as it involves materials taken from an animal that those religions traditionally view as "unclean". Would they reject it on those grounds?

    --
    There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
    1. Re:Pig parts? by jfengel · · Score: 4, Informative

      At least for Jews, that problem has been faced and solved. Pig heart valves are now used regularly, and that's just fine for Orthodox Jews. The problem is eating pigs, but any other use of pig parts is just fine.

      The Muslims, however, are still debating it, as far as I can tell.

  3. Misleading headline by gardyloo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Phew! Upon first reading that headline, I got an image of disembodied bits, growing ever larger, shuffling closer inexorably. I was about ready to look for a shotgun, or at least a shovel.

  4. Question to a doctor I'd like to kill by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can I have my foreskin back now, please?

    1. Re:Question to a doctor I'd like to kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That aint gonna make it any bigger.

    2. Re:Question to a doctor I'd like to kill by UnrefinedLayman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Question to a doctor I'd like to kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.
  5. Hmmmmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time
    Should I be concerned that this story was submitted by someone named [TheBORG]?
  6. Not as strange as you'd think. by cfulmer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Since at least the civil war, if patients have portions of their extremities cut off, doctors have been sewing the severed tip back into good flesh, so the extremity can regrow. An acquaintance lost about 1/2 an inch off the tip of his finger. The surgeon cut a slit in the palm of his hand, stuck the finger in there and sewed it back up. A few months later, presto! new finger.

  7. Re: Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fun fact. Everything in the future is getting closer all the time.

  8. Obligatory Monty Python Ref by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 3, Funny

    the experimental use of powdered pig bladder to regrow fingers and eventually lost limbs for soldiers and others in need from
    BEDEVERE: And that, my lord, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped.

    ARTHUR: This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes.

    BEDEVERE: OF course, my Liege ...

    --
    blah blah blah
  9. Hitchhikers Guide reference by edwardpickman · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I grew that one for you baby."

  10. Could it be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Replacement limbs finally within arms reach?

  11. Re:Because it's not analogous. by __aaonkh7048 · · Score: 5, Informative
    i am growing weary of setting this record straight.

    every time i hear someone say that FGM is 'worse' than MGM, i get sick to my stomach. NO baby deserves to be cut. NO child deserves to be cut. NO adult deserves to feel as if he/she is "less than" because they were NOT cut. NO one should be shamed or guilted into cutting themselves or their children.

    there are forms of FGM that are analogous to MGM. there are forms of MGM that are as atrocious as the worst forms of FGM. and there are worse things people do to kids too.

    i was clitoridectomized, hoodectomized, and nymphectomized (lost clitoris, hood and labia) to MDs in KANSAS in the 1950s. and i am a WASP female. i've written an entire book about it. "the rape of innocence" -- at amazon.

    and i work with people to help them clear their fear, their trauma. so i personally don't think there's much point in debating the pros and cons and who wins the prize for the 'worst' genital cutting. i think it's all atrocious, barbaric, SO middle ages or even before, and needs to be STOPPED immediately. what on earth is a modern country doing, cutting babies genitals? i am beginning to think the 'kink' factor is far greater than the 'health' claims. who on earth is so obsessed with babies' genitals that they insist on cutting them? this is very, very sick stuff.

    "circumcision" or whateve you care to call it, tortures and traumatizes everyone connected with it. even the practitioners have to steel their heats, close their hearts, so they can do it. nurses hate it. doctors hate it. parents have to go into denial. children protest, even tho adults will swear that the baby LIKED it... just like rapists, child abusers swear that the children they abuse liked it. it's childhood sexual abuse to the max.

    everyone deserves to have a whole, healthy, functional body... males and females. everyone deserves to be safe and protected, loved and respected... males and females.

    get with the program. protect babies. protect children. don't let anyone cut them. they don't deserve to be treated like that.

    thank you for reading this rant. :)

  12. Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer... by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh yeah, we'll be able to regrow a lost limb soon, but it'll probably cost an arm and a leg.

    --
    Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
  13. Re:Because it's not analogous. by vidarh · · Score: 3, Informative
    every girl I've been with has stated an aesthetic preference for it (and I happen to agree)

    Surprise. You live in a culture where circumcision is common, presumably. Every girl I've been that has expressed a preference thought that circumcised dicks looks weird. People at the very least get used to what is common in their culture, and often prefer that which they see as "normal".

    it's easier to keep clean,

    Whenever I hear this argument, it makes me want to stay ten feet away from whomever makes it, as that person clearly have problems understanding how water and soap works, and the entire concept of "washing"... Hint: It pulls back. One swift motion, and any hygiene "issues" are exactly the same as if it was circumcised. Do you also not wash behind your ears because it's hard to get to? Or clean your ass? Eww..

    and apparently I have a greatly reduced risk of contracting AIDS and one or two other STIs due to reduced risk of membrane abrasion. Score!

    And this time I worry on behalf of your sexual partners. The reduction in risk is so small that it makes no practical difference if you use a condom. If you're irresponsible enough to not use a condom... well then you deserve everything you'll likely get.

  14. Re:Dorsal slit. by MyIS · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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"?

    --
    http://zero-to-enterprise.blogspot.com/
  15. Re:Because it's not analogous. by __aaonkh7048 · · Score: 3, Informative

    honey, let's face it -- neither of us has a clue what a healthy, whole, functioning body is because we have both been altered. i had no idea for 50 years that i was not a normal, natural woman. now i wonder what it would have been like, to have had a natural body. i suspect i might have bonded with a man and have had a family and children.

    if you ever had a lover who was circumcised, you might notice a big difference between her and other women. men used to tell me, "you're DIFFERENT from other women." i had no idea what they were talking about until i found out about my circumcision.

    but i sure could tell the difference between men who had been cut and men who had intact bodies. the cut style didn't work for me at all; the intact did. i didn't understand then what the difference was ... now i do. there is a huge functional difference between the denuded glans and the natural penis with foreskin... a significant difference. on the doctorsopposingcircumcision.org website is a very eloquent explanation in video form under 'continuing education'.

    so your girlfriends might say they prefer the cut style, but have they tried the uncut style? I think foreskin is the reason why europeans have a reputation for being great lovers. american and european porn, i understand, illustrates the difference. the men move very differently.

    the cut penis only has sensors for pressure, heat and friction. glans sensitivity has been measured to be equivalent to the heel of the foot. the intact foreskin, on the other hand, contains tens of thousands of nerve endings that are similar to the nerve endings in the tips of the fingers and the lips. the cut man needs to push down to stimulate the foreskin remnant, the frenulum... the woman needs him to push up toward the clitoris. he needs to move hard and fast and that rubs her raw. i believe circumcision is the cause of an unnecessary 'war between the sexes'. it's tragic.

    the prepuce/foreskin is similar to the eyelid, and you know how smart an eyelid is. it KNOWS when something is threatening it. and it QUICKLY moves to protect the eye. it keeps the eyeball moist and clean. an eyeball without its eyelid would soon dry out and lose its ability to see well.

    the foreskin is very smart, like the eyelid. it senses where the man is in the act of intercourse, where the woman is, and it adjusts movements accordingly, so that sex works well for both lovers.

    the foreskin is self-lubricating, like the eyelid. the inner foreskin has a mucosal surface. natural sex -- his mucosal tissue touching her mucosal tissue -- is much like french kissing. extremely sensuous -- electric.

    you might like the equipment you have now. but if you ever start having trouble with it -- and a lot of men do start having trouble -- at different ages -- some very young -- then you might want to change your mind about foreskin restoration. it helps men who have lost their ability to feel or have erections or orgasms, to have the glans covered and to regenerate some of the nerve endings they have lost. it feels better for the woman too.

    the most sensitive part of most men's penises is the frenulum remnant on the bottom of the glans... you were supposed to have fifteen square inches of skin with feelings that exquisite. men who have been intact, then cut as adults, then restore, say that they get most of it back. and many who were disabled in that way, regain their sexual health and happiness.

    as for all the reasons you have heard to justify circumcision? do more research, please. i can find no legitimate medical reason for circumcising infants... and neither can any national medical organization in the world. each medical claim/excuse has been disproved -- one right after the other. 80% of the men in the world are intact and healthy. the US is 37th in the world in health, and it leads the industrialized nations in both circumcision AND HIV.

    if you read leonard glick's chapter in 'understanding circumcision' (