How To Grow a Head

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday April 26, 2010 @01:43AM from the no-not-like-that dept.

Taco Cowboy writes "British scientists have found a mechanism within our gene sequence that allows the growing of a new head — with brains, etc. The gene is tentatively known as smed-prep, and the information contained in smed-prep also makes the new cells appear in the right place and organise themselves into working structures."

41 of 355 comments (clear)

Oh Sure by eldavojohn · 2010-04-26 01:44 · Score: 5, Funny

Everyone was in favor of growing Hitler's head. But the when you grow it on the body of a great white shark -- ooh, suddenly you've gone too far!

(side note if you recognize that paraphrase: mark your calendars/DVRs for June 24th!)

--
My work here is dung.
1. Re:Oh Sure by WrongSizeGlass · 2010-04-26 01:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Heads in a jar just like on Futurama!
  I guess an isolated brain isn’t good enough for them and they want the whole 'head enchilada'.
2. Re:Oh Sure by Ironix · 2010-04-26 02:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I can't help but reply to this.
  
  --
  Still #1 -- Lonely Gay Geek
3. Re:Oh Sure by Jurily · 2010-04-26 02:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Good news everyone!
4. Re:Oh Sure by biryokumaru · 2010-04-26 03:14 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Note for mods: check Ironix's sig.
  
  --
  When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
5. Re:Oh Sure by FatdogHaiku · 2010-04-26 04:25 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Where's your head at?
  And that's the key! If we can get these things to grow near the groin and with the proper orientation they could be really popular...
  
  --
  You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
6. Re:Oh Sure by EdIII · 2010-04-26 05:13 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Of course, he did build a machine for that you know...
Would that make it... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-04-26 01:45 · Score: 4, Funny

a smed head?
1. Re:Would that make it... by skine · 2010-04-26 02:31 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  So the British scientists are getting ahead, but only a little.
2. Re:Would that make it... by DocMAME · 2010-04-26 04:12 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  No, the original poster was correct... SMED-head, as in Smed-prep... but thanks for playing!
Okay, that's it... by ShadowDragoonFTW · 2010-04-26 01:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Okay, that's it, science is getting too damn strange for me now.
1. Re:Okay, that's it... by Yvan256 · 2010-04-26 02:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Take the blue pill. The story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
2. Re:Okay, that's it... by tmosley · 2010-04-26 02:25 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Then roll over and find a copy of your own head in the bed with you.
3. Re:Okay, that's it... by Aceticon · 2010-04-26 03:55 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Only it's not a copy. It's your real head. You're the copy.
How "working"? by ciaran_o_riordan · 2010-04-26 01:48 · Score: 4, Funny

"Working" as in, you pull the chord and the ear moves?
Or "working" as in, you go for the chord, but the things runs off and starts multiplying and plotting the demise of your species?

--
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
1. Re:How "working"? by srussia · 2010-04-26 02:00 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Working" as in, you pull the chord and the ear moves?
  Or "working" as in, you go for the chord, but the things runs off and starts multiplying and plotting the demise of your species?
  Both. How strange the change from major to minor!
  
  --
  Set your phasers on "funky"!
Zaphod? by A+beautiful+mind · 2010-04-26 01:50 · Score: 4, Funny

Zaphod, my buddy! Is that you?!

--
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
1. Re:Zaphod? by dkleinsc · 2010-04-26 02:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Actually, I'm surprised we've gotten this far without quoting this cute ditty by Shel Silverstein:
  
  Chester came to school and said,
  “Durn, I growed another head.”
  Teacher said, “It’s time you knowed
  The word is ‘grew’ instead of ‘growed’ ”
  
  --
  I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
Grow parts of fingers? by gTsiros · 2010-04-26 01:51 · Score: 3, Interesting

I lost the last phalanx (joint including) of my right middle and right ring fingers.
I am impatiently waiting for the tech to get here so i can get my fingers back...

--
Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
1. Re:Grow parts of fingers? by VorpalRodent · 2010-04-26 01:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  According to the article, this technology is already here...assuming you can accept your new fingers having hair, eyes, and a brain.
  
  --
  Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
2. Re:Grow parts of fingers? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-04-26 02:02 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  According to the article, this technology is already here...assuming you can accept your new fingers having hair, eyes, and a brain.
  Everything was going great right up until I started masturbating ... then it got awesome.
3. Re:Grow parts of fingers? by holmstar · 2010-04-26 04:05 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Saw a documentary once where a guy who had lost a good half inch off the end of his finger and managed to regrow it, complete with fingerprints, by keeping it moist, and coating it with powdered "scaffold" protein every day. Apparently the presence of the scaffold protein triggered the stem cells that were present to start regrowing the lost tissue. The guy got the treatment idea from a friend who was studying tissue regeneration in amphibians.
Re:Yes but can they do it without copying Migranes by Mindcontrolled · 2010-04-26 01:51 · Score: 5, Funny

At the moment, this only works for flatworms, whose purchasing power is rather limited, last time I checked. So I doubt they will make a fortune soon. Then again, the difference between a banker and a flatworm is probably somewhat negligible. Actually, no, I am sorry. My sincerest apologies to all the flatworms reading slashdot.

--
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
hmmph, sensational by Gnaythan1 · 2010-04-26 01:55 · Score: 4, Informative

From what I gather, they figured out the gene sequence in flatworms for growing another head for a flatworm, and can do so consistently.
Since our genes are similar, they probably can figure out where the genes for growing a human head are, and *might* be able to use that info for regenerating damaged brain tissue
No zaphod's anytime soon.
1. Re:hmmph, sensational by reverseengineer · 2010-04-26 04:57 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  In particular, it mostly illustrates that in flatworms, body plan genes can be routinely reactivated throughout an organism's life. Most multicellular animals on Earth have a series of genes known as Hox or homeobox genes whose role is to determine the correct placement of structures on the body- depending on the form of the organism, "structures" can mean things like organs, limbs, eyes, tails, etc. The activity of these genes is so important that they tend to have been strongly conserved sequences throughout time- we have some Hox genes that are very similar to those in flies, for instance. This conservation is helped along by the fact that the Hox genes ultimately work by signaling other genes to work; the signaling cascade functions whether the signal is for the development of insect wings or for bird wings.
  
  According to the paper, the signaling involved in the development of the posterior end of planaria (Wnt/beta-catenin) had already been identified; the discovery of Smed-prep explains how the development of anterior structures (the trunk and head of the animal) are regulated. In addition, they found that the anterior and posterior pathways normally work in opposition (to avoid growing a tail on the head or head on the tail), and by silencing the posterior signaling, then activating head regeneration, a head would grow at both ends.
  
  From what we know of human Hox genes, the picture is not so simple- even at the most basic level of developmental organization there are several genes that direct development of the head, so there isn't a master gene we can reactivate to grow an ectopic head, but many of the same developmental pathways (Wnt, for instance) are the same or similar across organisms.
  
  --
  "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Obligatory MIB by Anonymous Coward · 2010-04-26 02:06 · Score: 5, Funny

"Do you have ANY idea how much that stings?!"
Hello??? This is Slashdot by GodfatherofSoul · 2010-04-26 02:06 · Score: 5, Funny

Those are not the body parts we seek.

--
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
And for further reading by kenp2002 · 2010-04-26 02:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

Science always advances faster then the moral and ethics of the society.
Science Fiction tends to serve as the cursory warning of the abuses of science. Please reply with suggetsions on reading that our fellow scientists should watch when they are not busy playing God (in the figurative sense.)
The Island comes to mind but even comic books like the Micronauts foretold the warnings of Body Bank abuses. The Repo Men is a recent film that from what I can gather might also make for a good reading.
Oh how I wish that science would first think:
"Ok if this works what are the ethics" rather then "do it first, then we'll worry about the ethics later."
I'm all for science, I just have the crippling burden of being a history buff, knowing how often science gives birth to atrocities. Comparing post-1600s science has made religion look tame.

--
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
1. Re:And for further reading by drinkypoo · 2010-04-26 02:42 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Oh how I wish that science would first think:
  "Ok if this works what are the ethics" rather then "do it first, then we'll worry about the ethics later."
  Science doesn't think anything. It's a process. Plenty of scientists can be assumed to have chosen morality over science. You don't hear about them because they didn't do anything. All scientific progress can be put to ends both good and ill, there is therefore nothing ethical or unethical about science fact, only the actions of men.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
2. Re:And for further reading by nohelix · 2010-04-26 03:25 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  This is very true. Just look at Nobel [Wikipedia]. When designed nitroglycerin, he was trying to make a safer explosive for miners. Instead he made a tool of war and was horrified by it. It was not his morality nor his invention that was flawed. It was the people who used it. I would think by now that our society had moved past the base point of science is evil and technology is amoral. That cell phone in your pocket could be used to make a bomb threat or call an ambulance for the guy having a heart attack. As for this research, it is quite a ways off from any useful/practical applications. But people hope that when it does come to fruition, it will be for things first like severe brain damage cause by an accident, a blood clot or other damage. And while yes, planarians have a cephalic ganglia (brain) and a complex nervous system for being a simple invertebrate, it is vastly less complex than even a mouse brain. As a case in point, their "eyes" are a photoreceptor not a lens, so while they can see and react to light, they do not have the capability to distinguish shapes. Disclaimer: I work in a research lab that uses S. mediterranea, the flatworm used in this paper.
RTFA ? Why would we want to do that ? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-04-26 02:14 · Score: 3, Informative

This is actually about a flatworm's ability to regenerate from serious injuries, not specifically about growing heads.
They claim they've found the genes responsible for regeneration in flatworms.
The title is "Gene that allows growing a new head identified
Now we just need memory backup - and worm DNA"
Which says quite a bit more than the catchy but non-informative title this article on slashdot has.
Re:They always say by vegiVamp · 2010-04-26 02:16 · Score: 3, Funny

Bad head is better than none.

You left another typo, there.

--
What a depressingly stupid machine.
how to get ahead in navigating by MagicM · 2010-04-26 02:23 · Score: 3, Funny

I know a group of cannibals that would trade you a nice banana picker for one of these!
Re:Irresistible blonde joke... by maroberts · 2010-04-26 02:23 · Score: 3, Funny

Whilst a doubling of memory capacity is surely good, I'm not sure that adding a head with a single extra brain cell will improve a blonde's intelligence.... :-)

--
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Tonight... by RuBLed · 2010-04-26 02:27 · Score: 4, Funny

Pinky: Brain, I have an idea...
1. Re:Tonight... by infinite9 · 2010-04-26 03:46 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
  I think so Brain. But if people could put heads at the end of their hands, they would never leave the house.
  
  --
  Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Is it just me or.... by ProppaT · 2010-04-26 02:28 · Score: 4, Insightful

Is it just me or is this the last body part we should actually care about regenerating? Once my brain is gone, I couldn't care less if you regenerated it for me to start over with a fresh, empty brain or not. I'd rather them find a way to regenerate my body on my existing head, thank you very much.

--
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
Next head.... by mseeger · 2010-04-26 02:29 · Score: 3, Funny

Multi-Threading, here i come....
needs tweaking by JackSpratts · 2010-04-26 02:34 · Score: 3, Funny

as is typical, lab results are promising, fascinating even, but not yet entirely practical. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/JackSpratts/PUFFER-SMITH-47645.jpg
Re:What??? by jweller · 2010-04-26 02:55 · Score: 5, Informative

I realize that in this room, defending the redneck is probably about as fruitless as pissing up a rope, but here goes. My next door neighbor is one of the biggest rednecks you will ever meet, and he will tell you the same. He works a blue collar Union job, loves NASCAR, drives a pickup truck, smokes dope, and swills more cheap beer than you can imagine. He also has been married to the same woman for 25+ years, put both his daughters through College, Worked for the same company for 20+ years and is now a shop foreman, isn't a racist, and is generally the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet.
I think the pejorative most of you are looking for is "White trash"
Re:getting ahead of myself by Kirin+Fenrir · 2010-04-26 04:39 · Score: 3, Insightful

Basically the questions concern privacy (as individuals they have very little) and morality (do we want two men sharing them, or do we want them sharing one man).
It doesn't matter what we want. Only what they want. Society needs to stay out of the personal lives of consenting adults.

--
Caffeine is my anti-drug!

Duranin - A NWN2 Roleplaying Persistent World