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The Military Plans To Regrow Body Parts

Ponca City, We Love You writes "The Department of Defense has announced the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to 'harness stem cell research and technology... to reconstruct new skin, muscles and tendons, and even ears, noses and fingers.' The government is budgeting $250 million in public and private money for the project's first five years, and the NIH and three universities will be on the team. The military has been working on regrowing lost body parts using extracellular matrices and scientists in labs have grown blood vessels, livers, bladders, breast implants, and meat and are already growing a new ear for a badly burned Marine using stem cells from his own body. Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker explained that our bodies systematically generate liver cells and bone marrow and that this ability can be redirected through 'the right kind of stimulation.' The general cited animals like salamanders that can regrow lost tails or limbs. 'Why can't a mammal do the same thing?' he asked."

6 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. In the future battlefield... by javilon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mmmmm, I thought I had already killed that one...

    --


    When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
  2. Re:eeeeeeek! by Johnny5000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm wondering if they're going to be getting that million dollars from PETA.

    --
    The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
  3. Re:One *little* thing by Ucklak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy!
    DDT did a job on me
    Now I am a real sickie
    Guess I'll have to break the news
    That I got no mind to lose
    All the girls are in love with me
    I'm a teenage lobotomy

    Slugs and snails are after me
    DDT keeps me happy
    Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
    That I got no cerebellum
    Gonna get my Ph.D.
    I'm a teenage lobotomy

    --
    if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
  4. Opportunities.... by Zocalo · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, the US military is looking to fund a project to re-grow body parts, including meat, and PETA is offering money to someone who can create artificial meat. That sounds like a match made in Soylent Heaven to me; "It's your *own* meat; how could it not be ethical to eat it? You didn't suffer did you?"

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    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  5. Seriously? by Guerilla*+Napalm · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can see it now... an Iraqi dissident is hiding in a ditch near Baghdad, determined to ambush the next American patrol, then reconsiders because he's distracted by the sergeant's spectacular breasts....that might just work. Hooraay! Fake Tits for everyone!

  6. The cost for us by RESPAWN · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder how much it will cost the general public once the technology matures. An arm and a leg?

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    If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.