Stem Cells Turn Hearing Back On

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Stem Cells Turn Hearing Back On

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @08:54AM from the i-heard-that dept.

puddingebola sends this excerpt from an article at ScienceNow: "Scientists have enabled deaf gerbils to hear again — with the help of transplanted cells that develop into nerves that can transmit auditory information from the ears to the brain. The advance, reported today in Nature, could be the basis for a therapy to treat various kinds of hearing loss. ... Rivolta and his colleagues knew that during embryonic development, a handful of proteins, including fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 3 and 10, are required for ears to form. So they exposed human embryonic stem cells to FGF3 and FGF10. Multiple types of cells formed, including precursor inner-ear hair cells, but they were also able to identify and isolate the cells beginning to differentiate into the desired spiral ganglion neurons. Then, they implanted the neuron precursor cells into the ears of gerbils with damaged ear neurons and followed the animals for 10 weeks. The function of the neurons was restored.'"

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Those amazing stem cells by Spy+Handler · 2012-09-12 08:58 · Score: 2, Funny

is there anything they can't do?
1. Re:Those amazing stem cells by ravenshrike · 2012-09-12 12:07 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  They could however theoretically seed new teeth. So if you were willing to yank the tooth and wait the 1-2 years for the new tooth to grow in, then they could be said to cure cavities.
2. Re:Those amazing stem cells by RandomFactor · 2012-09-12 21:42 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Wake me when the do this with non-Embryonic stem cells. I don't have an embryonic me lying around on ice to harvest.
  
  --
  --- Mercutio was right.
Congress will turn a deaf-ear by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Congress will turn a deaf-ear to the pleas of those waiting for stem-cell research.
Deaf gerbils, yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:05 · Score: 5, Funny

Has it been tested on leppards?
1. Re:Deaf gerbils, yes, but... by OldSport · 2012-09-12 09:26 · Score: 2
  
  You just aren'tageddon it.
2. Re:Deaf gerbils, yes, but... by Scarletdown · 2012-09-12 12:47 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Has it been tested on leppards?
  What's the Rush? This isn't a Fly by Night operation.
  
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  This space unintentionally left blank.
Deaf community will hate this by Wyatt+Earp · 2012-09-12 09:10 · Score: 5, Interesting

Many in the deaf community are against technologies that restore hearing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaf_culture#Values_and_beliefs
A positive attitude toward being deaf is typical in Deaf cultural groups. Deafness is not generally considered a condition that needs to be fixed.
1. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:19 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Many in the deaf community are against technologies that restore hearing.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaf_culture#Values_and_beliefs
  A positive attitude toward being deaf is typical in Deaf cultural groups. Deafness is not generally considered a condition that needs to be fixed.
  but who can argue that it's not a disadvantage?
2. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:22 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That is probably an acceptance measure. If you do not accept who you are you will become depressed.
  I would bet cold hard cash if there was a machine that cured blindness or deafness in under 30 mins there would be a line out the door. Oh sure there would be those who didnt want it. But I would not bet against a line out the door...
  In fact in your list they 'heavily rely on technology'. Meaning they are after ways to communicate. 'show up early to get a good view', etc ,etc etc...
3. Re:Deaf community will hate this by jbrandv · 2012-09-12 09:28 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I lost hearing in my right ear several years ago from sudden hearing loss. I'd give almost anything to get it back. I have tinnitus in that ear so bad it almost hurts sometimes. Plus you have no idea how frustrating it is to hear a sound and NOT be able to tell where it came from. PLEASE fix it!
4. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Tog+Klim · 2012-09-12 09:33 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I have partial hearing loss due to nerve damage in one ear when I was 30. I now wear a hearing aid in that ear. I would love to have my hearing fixed without an aid.
5. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Wyatt+Earp · 2012-09-12 09:35 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I work in Special Education technology support and have talked to some Deaf/Hard of Hearing specalists about this.
  A big chunk of the Deaf Culture wouldn't do it if it was free.
6. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:47 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Would those same people then object to removing Deaf/Hard of Hearing from the list of disabilities/handicaps?
7. Re:Deaf community will hate this by epp_b · 2012-09-12 10:06 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I can respect that.
  Something that you deal with all your life becomes normal for you. Changing that norm, even for the better, can be frightening and jarring (I speak from experience). I can certainly see how being deaf one minute and normal hearing the next could very likely cause a sensory overload.
  However, that shouldn't preclude such research. I can't imagine such an opportunity being turned down by someone who lost their hearing at some point in life.
8. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Richy_T · 2012-09-12 10:06 · Score: 2
  
  I understand the need to rationalize things that way but "The Fox Without a Tail" springs to mind.
9. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Antipater · 2012-09-12 10:17 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Deafness/blindness that occurred later in life (injury, disease, etc.), sure. But for people who were born that way, or who lost their hearing too early to remember, probably not so much. Opening a facet of the world to someone who has spent their entire life with no concept of it can be exceedingly shocking, even traumatic. A little on this is discussed in the wiki article on recovery from blindness, but a much more interesting account is written by Oliver Sacks about Virgil, a man whose vision was partially restored at age 50 after a lifetime of blindness (short on time, so I can't a link, but Google should have it somewhere). In a nutshell, Virgil's experience with sight was like trying to get your grandfather to play a video game. He understands what it is, but sees it as a novelty, something that's extraneous and totally unneeded. Worse, he's bad at it, and knowing that he's bad at it makes him frustrated when you try to get him to play.
  Virgil was not a happy man after his surgery. He lapsed into depression and pretty much lost the will to live. So be careful when you start proclaiming that people simply don't know what they're missing - they might be better off that way at thsi point.
  
  --
  Everything is better with chainsaws.
10. Re:Deaf community will hate this by twotacocombo · 2012-09-12 10:25 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Many in the deaf community are against technologies that restore hearing.... Deafness is not generally considered a condition that needs to be fixed.
  Well bully for them. What about the 'few' that would like their hearing back? Tell them to quit being babies and live with it? Nobody is going to force this on those who don't want it, so at least make it an option for those who do.
11. Re:Deaf community will hate this by dcollins117 · 2012-09-12 10:48 · Score: 2
  
  but who can argue that it's not a disadvantage?
  I can. I live in an apartment building with extremely noisy neighbors - I believe they are training elephants to dance upstairs. At any rate, I need to wear earplugs whenever sleeping, coding, reading .... pretty much all the time.
12. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Kaz+Kylheku · 2012-09-12 12:26 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Those people have a right to their ignorant opinion. But no collective has a right to dictate the destiny of an individual.
  It is certainly better to hear than not to hear, without a question. Moreover, I would welcome the ability to, say, see infrared or ultraviolet, or to sense the direction of a magnetic field in which I am immersed. I only have a positive attitude toward not having these abilities, because (most?) other people also don't have them.
13. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Kaz+Kylheku · 2012-09-12 12:28 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  So, would this same chunk of the deaf culture not mind if someone poked their eyes out?
  If it's okay not to hear, it must be okay not to see, right?
  Idiots ...
  What makes you emotionally comfortable is not the same thing as the truth.
14. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Kaz+Kylheku · 2012-09-12 12:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Virgil is an anecdote. We have no access to a parallel universe in which a "control Virgil" lives who hasn't had his sight restored. Maybe that Virgil would have lost the will to live anyway. Virgil died of pneumonia only four months after the surgery. So all that we know about his experience is confined to a few weeks or months following the restoration of sight, not how he would have coped in the long run.
15. Re:Deaf community will hate this by Scarletdown · 2012-09-12 12:59 · Score: 2
  
  Oh if you were part of a minority that doesn't have superpowers, you would feel the bitter sting of inferiority.
  Just remember, if you are given a choice between Adamantium claws or mutant healing, Always take the mutant healing.
  
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  This space unintentionally left blank.
16. Re:Deaf community will hate this by mug+funky · 2012-09-12 14:59 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  as somebody who spends a good chunk of time dealing with hard-of-hearing subtitles, it seems a little... entitled for certain vocal members of the community to not accept a "cure" (i've seen x-men 3, i know the issues), but expect placing the burden of making adjustments to fit their condition on other people (necessarily - you can't make subtitles if you can't hear the dialogue).
  hopefully this wont be taken out of context as flamebait - i have much respect for the deaf community, i can understand it. but they above all other disability groups seem to be the most political. and as with all politics, it's not always something that makes sense. my wife's worked in disability (and has mild CP herself), so i'm not pulling facts out of my nethers but speaking from experience.
  personally, if i found myself unable to hear, i'd want it back as soon as possible. living without music after having lived with it for so long would be hellish. i'd probably become super grumpy and get all political and- ...oh, i get it.
17. Re:Deaf community will hate this by firewrought · 2012-09-12 16:29 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  who can argue that it's not a disadvantage?
  The deaf, apparently. We live in a world of noise, and hearing is a sense that you can never turn off, so sometimes being deaf is a big plus.
  But mostly, this is the whole deaf culture thing. Consider that the main drawback to their disability is that it hinders communication with non-deaf, non-signing people. (That's why they need TTY, CC, etc.) Among themselves, the disability has very little practical impact (unlike, for instance, blind people), especially if you were born that way and it's all you've ever known. And of course, like all communities, the deaf have developed norms and conventions for interactions that are specialized to their unique situation.
  Got the picture so far? Now imagine you're deaf and your social circle is deaf and you frequently have to venture out into society at large where interaction with the others is always difficult and frequently gets you strange looks, unsolicited pity, and subhuman regard. The insurance guy down-talks you (as if your IQ was 70), and you get tried of folks repeatedly trying to communicate with you by SHOUTING LOUDER or talking reeeaa-aaaallll slo-wwww-lllley when all they need to do is talk straight and use a little common sense. Do you see what's happening here? Interacting with your deaf peers is clearly "normal" and comfortable. The problem is with the world-at-large.
  Finally, that world-at-large comes to your door and wants to "fix" poor, miserable little you. Or worse, they want to "fix" your newborn child: do surgery on their head so they won't have to live with the same "disability" you do. Let that child grow up as one of the others such that there will always, always be that extra rift between you and your offspring. And what, over the long haul, will these "fixes" do to your community but choke it out and make it disappear?
  That is very, very threatening.
  
  --
  -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
18. Re:Deaf community will hate this by narcc · 2012-09-12 21:23 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  "Deaf culture" is the reason that the deaf community suffers from severe unemployment and illiteracy. Deaf culture is the reason so few deaf people pursue higher education. It's what keeps competent teachers and administrators out of deaf schools (you know, the ones who aren't "deaf enough"). Worst of all, it breeds fear and hatred; keeping the deaf community isolated.
  Deaf culture is destroying any hope the deaf community has for a brighter future.
  Deaf culture is a disease far worse than the disability. It needs to be choked out. It needs to disappear. Deaf culture is the REAL threat.
  
  --
  Required reading for internet skeptics
Damn! by iBod · 2012-09-12 09:14 · Score: 4, Funny

32 weeks of studying 'Sign Language for Gerbils' - all for nothing.
Hair Cells by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-12 09:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

I need to get the ones on my head to regrow.
FUND THIS SHIT. by neokushan · 2012-09-12 10:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

Seriously, just fucking fund it already. Fuck the religious ones that want to live in the dark ages, this is SCIENCE and if it can make deaf kids hear and blind kids see, then fuck whatever piece of paper says it's immoral and fuck the assholes that try to stop it.

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+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Re:How about people who can't smell? by onkelonkel · 2012-09-12 11:00 · Score: 3, Funny

I feel bad about this, but the opening is big enough to drive a semi truck through.

"I was born without the ability to smell."

Just don't shower for a few days.

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None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.