Make your own Organ

[Shrykull]

What kind of organ would you like to have if it existed. I'd like one that maintains my body fat at a certain level and makes the excess feces instead of making my white fat cells bigger.

Actually, I remember a woman who had Cushings syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing%27s_disease and maintained her high body weight despite eating almost nothing but salads with no dressing. Perhaps it wouldn't require an organ, just some genetic engineering not to produce/produce little cortisol. Though I've seen lots of anti-cortisol weight treatments on tv.

I've been wondering for a while, do any and all any extra calories that are not burned by the body become fat, no matter from what group of the food pyramid they're from?

[Darth Raptor]

I've been wondering for a while, do any and all any extra calories that are not burned by the body become fat, no matter from what group of the food pyramid they're from?

Yes. If you eat 6000 calories worth of lettuce, you'll get just as fat as if you ate 6000 calories worth of Swiss cake rolls.

As for additional organs, where would they go? Your interior space is used to full capacity. There won't be any new additions without some subtractions. I can't think of anything I'd be willing to readily dispense with.

[Shrykull]

I've been wondering for a while, do any and all any extra calories that are not burned by the body become fat, no matter from what group of the food pyramid they're from?

Yes. If you eat 6000 calories worth of lettuce, you'll get just as fat as if you ate 6000 calories worth of Swiss cake rolls.

As for additional organs, where would they go? Your interior space is used to full capacity. There won't be any new additions without some subtractions. I can't think of anything I'd be willing to readily dispense with.

What about your gall bladder and appendix, and can't you live without your spleen under certain conditions?

[Darth Wong]

Why do people think salad is healthy? Salad is shit food. You take lettuce, which is one of the least nutritious vegetables, then you eat it raw even though your body has great difficulty breaking down the cellulose so most of what little nutrients it possesses will end up being flushed out your ass. Brilliant.

[lazerus]

Why do people think salad is healthy? Salad is shit food. You take lettuce, which is one of the least nutritious vegetables, then you eat it raw even though your body has great difficulty breaking down the cellulose so most of what little nutrients it possesses will end up being flushed out your ass. Brilliant.

Really?

......shit.

[Darth Wong]

Salad gained popularity as a way to lose weight, not as a particularly nutritious way of eating. The idea is that it fills your stomach but you don't actually derive a lot of food intake from it, so you lose weight. Over the years, people have gotten the mistaken impression that this means it's "healthy", but "lower calorie" and "healthy" are not necessarily the same thing.

[Lord of the Abyss]

An organ that can convert electromagnetic fields ( or possibly current ) into nutrients and oxygen, in analogy to plants and sunlight. You'd need to use induction to feed it ( unless you want an unsightly socket, or possibly conductive patches on the skin ), but you could wear a magnetic belt or something to induce current in the organ. You'd be able to ignore the need for air and go long periods without food. Useful in space travel, or underwater for example. Basically, an organ that lets us feed our energy need from a generator or battery instead of farmland.

[Keevan_Colton]

I'd take that nice little drug gland that the culture throw in with genofixing thank you very much.

[SirNitram]

Can I have one that equalizes all the broken ones I have? Maybe? No? Has to assume the original is in working order?

If I'm allowed anything I can whip out of my imagination, a mammalian version of the Draconis Fundare, because the ability to reconstruct any matter I take in into the appropriate nutrients(To the point of being able to survive of rocks) is an extremely useful ability. Plus, it'd probably burn fat very efficiently.

Within the realm of science? Just a Culture drug gland.

[Talanth]

I'm going to be slightly icky and say a second bladder, maybe placed above the origional between the kidneys (shifting some intestines out the way, obviosely). I've always thought that the body is rediculousely wastefull with its most vital ingreedient, so instead of sending any excess water to be litraly peed away it can be stored up for later use. A cup full of emergancy water should be very handy in a pinch.

[Darth Raptor]

I'm going to be slightly icky and say a second bladder, maybe placed above the origional between the kidneys (shifting some intestines out the way, obviosely). I've always thought that the body is rediculousely wastefull with its most vital ingreedient, so instead of sending any excess water to be litraly peed away it can be stored up for later use. A cup full of emergancy water should be very handy in a pinch.

I'd rather just have more efficient kidneys and the ability to squirt a kind of uric paste like birds and reptiles instead of pissing out urine that's almost completely water.

[Shrykull]

If I'm allowed anything I can whip out of my imagination, a mammalian version of the Draconis Fundare, because the ability to reconstruct any matter I take in into the appropriate nutrients(To the point of being able to survive of rocks) is an extremely useful ability. Plus, it'd probably burn fat very efficient

Did they explain exactly how it worked? I guess it just can create any kind of enzyme to cause any chemical reaction you need, just as long as what most of you eat is carbon-based. Can it also transmute elements? Then it would need to use nuclear fusion.

[SirNitram]

If I'm allowed anything I can whip out of my imagination, a mammalian version of the Draconis Fundare, because the ability to reconstruct any matter I take in into the appropriate nutrients(To the point of being able to survive of rocks) is an extremely useful ability. Plus, it'd probably burn fat very efficient

Did they explain exactly how it worked? I guess it just can create any kind of enzyme to cause any chemical reaction you need, just as long as what most of you eat is carbon-based. Can it also transmute elements? Then it would need to use nuclear fusion.

It's basically the Deus Ex Machina organ, really. It provides the power for the dragon's breath weapon, enables it to fly, powers it's magic...

It's described as nearly a perfect mass-energy converter, which never makes too much to store safely. It transmutes via not fusion or fission, but breaking it down to raw magical energy, and rebuilding it to matter.

So. Deus Ex Machina Organ.

[MagnusTheReD]

I want that funky organ the sharks(and other animals) use to sence electromagnetic fields!
[utl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharks]Ampullae of Lorenzini[/url]

But one that will work out of water.

[MagnusTheReD]

I want that funky organ the sharks(and other animals) use to sence electromagnetic fields!
Ampullae of Lorenzini

But one that will work out of water.

Dammit, sorry, link repaired.

[Darth Servo]

I'd really like to replace one of mine that has stopped functioning.

(I want my islet cells back)

[FedRebel]

An interesting organ would be one that would continue producing T-Cells til death and is capable of vastly increasing production in cases of infection, instead of just shutting down production at the onset of puberty

An organ that can replenish Helper T's if they become compromised (i.e. HIV) would be most useful given that Helper T's are a crucial to alert other white blood cells to infection and how to fight it.

The Main benefit is that an HIV victim wouldn’t face potentially fatal lesser infections (i.e. Influenza, without a stable immune system), and with a reasonable stable immune system a natural antibody could eventually emerge

[Tasoth]

Lesse. A culture drug gland would be nice. As for custom organs:

-A nictating membrane to screen light when it's too bright for my irises to compensate.

or

-a membrane to amplify available night so I don't bang around at night.

or

-Phosphorescent patches on my skin. Think glowing freckles.

or

-low voltage shock organs on my hands. Nothing too big.

[aerius]

I want something that can replicate the highs of various drugs. For instance I could think "beer" and get a nice instant buzz, or think about weed and be stoned for the next couple hours. I'll never have to drink or use drugs again.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Forget tatoos. I want chromatophores.

[Alerik the Fortunate]

Perhaps some sort of transmitting device that allows me to mentally control annoying devices such as nearby televisions and stereos.

[slebetman]

Is a limb an organ? If yes I want wings! Doesn't really matter if I can't fly, it just looks cool.

[need4spd]

Snake pits which can sense 2 thousands of a degree. Far superior to military equipment now in use. aka night vision

A organ interface which has a direct link between the brain ---> DNA which would allow the human mind to modify ones DNA consciously. Possiblities at this end are almost endless.

Enhanced olfactory system (sense). Where you the trace of someone who walked through a field up to 14 days later.

Skin which converts UV rays not only for vitamin D production but protein, glycogen, fats, essentially all nutrients required for normal human digestion. Given that the sun gives off 1000watts of energy per meter squared equals 860 food calories. And the human body has 25 square feet of skin surface. You only need a little bit of sun a day to support life.

[Count Dooku]

I'd make a second brain, so to speak. It would be part of the CNS, and would have the memory patterns (if there is such a thing - damn trek, if not) stored so in case my head get's chopped off, I'd still be alive. The second brain would also direct the body to re-grow and damaged tissue (i.e. schlerosis of the liver - the scar tissue would be replaced by healthy tissue), and any body parts lost (including the head) would be re-grown. Seeing as it's essentially just like our existing brains (but a little cooler), it would aid in thought process, and multi-tasking.

Now, where the hell would I put it? I want to say somewhere in the abdomin, but we'd have to take some stuff out to fit it in there (I wouldn't want a big bulge protruding from my stomach), and we'd have to encase it in another skull for safety...

[Tasoth]

Skin which converts UV rays not only for vitamin D production but protein, glycogen, fats, essentially all nutrients required for normal human digestion. Given that the sun gives off 1000watts of energy per meter squared equals 860 food calories. And the human body has 25 square feet of skin surface. You only need a little bit of sun a day to support life.

Big thing with that is you'd have to take in all the glycerols, fatty acids, peptides and what have you to produce them. Since that's already done with digestion, which just breaks it down and captures some of the energy released, it'd just be a bit extraneous.