Mammalian regeneration!

[Douglas the Intrepid]

Wow, things are getting interesting now. The potentials are staggering!


A quest that began over a decade ago with a chance observation has reached a milestone: the identification of a gene that may regulate regeneration in mammals. The absence of this single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to have been lost through evolution and reserved for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander. In a report published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from The Wistar Institute demonstrate that mice that lack the p21 gene gain the ability to regenerate lost or damaged tissue.

1 gene lost = 1 limb regained? Scientists demonstrate mammalian regeneration through single gene deletion

 

[Matt J]

That'd be fun, but what am I going to do with all these extra arms and legs laying around? Would the "appendage" grow back the same each time or would it be different? That could make for some interesting "replacements".

 

[LuciferSam]

I miss having my tail. Damn car doors.

 

[LuciferSam]

It sounds like if you were starving, you could cannibalize yourself. Plane crashes over the Andes?? No worry, no problem, and above all, no guilt. Who would think that by eating a foot, you might save your ass?

 

[Bob]

an eye for an eye?

 

[LuciferSam]

an eye for an eye?

No longer makes the whole world blind.

 

[Bob]

there would be no deterrence in islamic law for thieves

 

[LuciferSam]

there would be no deterrence in islamic law for thieves

Running with the scissors would be an Olympic event.

 

[Lynnie]

So Douglas, a lizard or gecko or whatever you want to call it regenerates its tail; not a mammal. Same with Atlantic blue crab and Maine lobster claws, also not mammals. I suspect they are missing this p21? While I like cold-blooded creatures, I am partial to mammals just they way we are. Cowboy brought a lizard in one day with a trail of blood behind him. We had a long talk about killing/maiming creatures and he hasn't done it since......I don't think, anyway.

Lucifer, save your ass instead of eating your buddy? UGH

 

[Douglas the Intrepid]

Hello Lynnie!

Actually the way it would work if they were able to get it implemented for humans is this. You would be exactly the way you are now, except you would heal much faster and better. Instead of leaving a scar, cuts would heal perfectly without a trace. If you lost the tip of a finger, it would grow back. If you were in a car wreck and had spinal damage that would currently leave you quadriplegic, you would heal and regain full movement. If you had a bad heart, it would regenerate to a healthy robust state. Otherwise you would be the same, warm blooded mammal that you are now in all ways! It has the potential to change everything medically!