Man Regrows Finger

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-04-30 01:12pm

You really need to see the videos to appreciate this. Truly, it is quite an amazing piece of technology. Claire Bennett better watch out.

Eulogy · Post by **Eulogy** » 2008-04-30 01:39pm

So when can I get my extra arms, superdense muscles and badass rockets?

Seriously though, this needs to be kept secret, lest Big Pharma and the US conmen - I mean health care industry get wind of this.

FA Xerrik · Post by **FA Xerrik** » 2008-04-30 01:43pm

That's incredible. Even where it's at right now, that's an amazing technology. If it gets refined to the point they're talking about, regrowing organs and such, the applications would be vast.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-04-30 01:55pm

That is absolutely amazing. If it isn't a hoax or a freak incident, anyway.

Darth Ruinus · Post by **Darth Ruinus** » 2008-04-30 02:57pm

I cant see the video right now (the school computers suck ass for videos) but from what I read this sounds pretty badass. Did he say he saw regeneration by the second day? Amazing.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2008-04-30 04:31pm

What?

I'm sorry, but I'm awestruck and at the loss of words. What a potential!

lazerus · Post by **lazerus** » 2008-04-30 04:58pm

I'm going to wait for the double-blind study before I'm sure it's not a hoax, but holy crap, that was awesome.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-04-30 05:47pm

Holy crap!

Anguirus · Post by **Anguirus** » 2008-04-30 06:33pm

I'm going to wait for the double-blind study before I'm sure it's not a hoax, but holy crap, that was awesome. Shocked

I'm all for the scientific method, but the placebo effect does not cause one to regrow a finger. The video could theoretically be a hoax, but there's not much of a chance that he just happened to regrow his finger naturally on the day that they decided to try this treatment on him.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-04-30 07:28pm

This is not entirely without precedent. There have been a very few cases of people regrowing severed fingertips before - but none older than nine years of age. It's been known for some time the potential was there but the body puts very strict limits on growth past puberty. Unlocking that potential could be enormously beneficial.

Eulogy · Post by **Eulogy** » 2008-05-01 11:39am

Broomstick wrote:This is not entirely without precedent. There have been a very few cases of people regrowing severed fingertips before - but none older than nine years of age. It's been known for some time the potential was there but the body puts very strict limits on growth past puberty. Unlocking that potential could be enormously beneficial.

Which is a very, very stupid thing for the body to do; yet another proof that Cretinism is bullshit. What sane engineer would prevent a system from replacing its own lost parts, provided the capability is there?

Melchior · Post by **Melchior** » 2008-05-01 11:48am

Eulogy wrote:
Broomstick wrote: Which is a very, very stupid thing for the body to do; yet another proof that Cretinism is bullshit. What sane engineer would prevent a system from replacing its own lost parts, provided the capability is there?

Bad argument, sadly. It helps a lot in preventing neoplastic growth, care is needed in tampering with such systems.

RIPP_n_WIPE · Post by **RIPP_n_WIPE** » 2008-05-01 04:19pm

This is badass. Will it be able to help amputees?

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-01 04:35pm

RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:This is badass. Will it be able to help amputees?

If it will, I'll find a Creationist just to ask him the question of why God can't heal amputees ; After all, it's pretty simple: We've done it already!

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2008-05-01 05:27pm

PeZook wrote:
RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:This is badass. Will it be able to help amputees?
If it will, I'll find a Creationist just to ask him the question of why God can't heal amputees ; After all, it's pretty simple: We've done it already!

The only answer he can give you is that pixie powder is a gift from God...

Davey · Post by **Davey** » 2008-05-01 08:19pm

Sweet! I've got my fingers crossed for the day I'll be able to grow angel wings and fly to class in the morning!

I've always heard about crazy growth - like how Elk antlers grow so quickly, but I didn't know people, especially people who had stopped growing were capable of doing that - with or without help. I guess I was wrong! I wonder what we'll start seeing next - regenerating whole limbs? Conquering age?

I hope this isn't one of those internet hoaxes...

LMSx · Post by **LMSx** » 2008-05-01 11:22pm

RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:This is badass. Will it be able to help amputees?

According to the main BBC video about this on their site, the basic limit is organ tissue or small appendages like fingers. Within 10 years we might be regrowing skin and fingers, but the scientist sounded doubtful about whole arms.

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2008-05-02 02:21am

Broomstick wrote:This is not entirely without precedent. There have been a very few cases of people regrowing severed fingertips before - but none older than nine years of age. It's been known for some time the potential was there but the body puts very strict limits on growth past puberty. Unlocking that potential could be enormously beneficial.

I thought it was almost certain that a young child would regenerate a severed fingertip. I read that partial severings are simply cut off and allowed to regenerate rather than repairing them with expensive, less reliable microsurgery.

The funny thing is, if even the tiniest scrap of flesh still connects the fingertip, it will just rot. Only when its severed completely does a blastema form and starting rebuilding tissue.

There's another example of human regeneration in humans (as opposed to ordinary healing or scarring) - the way our bone marrow rebuilds after being broken.

What surprises me is that this article doesn't mention stem cells anywhere. Animals that can regenerate like salamanders can produce new stem cells on demand at the site of injury - this man must have been doing something similar.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-05-02 02:34am

Umm... I thought that everything past the cuticle that wasn't bone would completely regrow...

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-05-02 11:01am

Winston Blake wrote:
Broomstick wrote:This is not entirely without precedent. There have been a very few cases of people regrowing severed fingertips before - but none older than nine years of age. It's been known for some time the potential was there but the body puts very strict limits on growth past puberty. Unlocking that potential could be enormously beneficial.
I thought it was almost certain that a young child would regenerate a severed fingertip. I read that partial severings are simply cut off and allowed to regenerate rather than repairing them with expensive, less reliable microsurgery.

It could be that since I last looked into this sort of thing standard procedures have changed, allowing for more regenerations. It's not guaranteed, but yes, young children do have this capacity.

Lord of the Abyss · Post by **Lord of the Abyss** » 2008-05-02 08:14pm

Eulogy wrote:
Broomstick wrote: Which is a very, very stupid thing for the body to do; yet another proof that Cretinism is bullshit. What sane engineer would prevent a system from replacing its own lost parts, provided the capability is there?
Bad argument, sadly. It helps a lot in preventing neoplastic growth, care is needed in tampering with such systems.

Thing is, salamanders and some other animals show that it can be done, without any apparent extra danger to the animal. It just means that the growth is more likely be in the form of extra tissue or an extra organ, like an extra finger, instead of a randomized mass.

What we lack isn't the ability to grow new tissue, which in an unhealthy form leads to neoplastic growth; what we lack is the ability to do so properly. We normally produce scar tissue, instead. There's no evidence that I've heard of that growing tissue in a more organized way would lead to an increased chance of cancer.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-05-03 01:22am

You could replace more of the finger and other limbs by giving an artificial skeleton to grow around. A titanium radius and ulna might be needed to regrow a below-the-elbow amputee, since this magic powder doesn't grow back bone.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2008-05-04 12:15pm

So it can regenerate a finger, can it regenerate hair follicles if you slather it on your head?

Seriously though, that would sell.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2008-05-04 02:39pm

Phantasee wrote:You could replace more of the finger and other limbs by giving an artificial skeleton to grow around. A titanium radius and ulna might be needed to regrow a below-the-elbow amputee, since this magic powder doesn't grow back bone.

Does it regrow bone? It doesn't mention it in the article and I was wondering that.

FA Xerrik · Post by **FA Xerrik** » 2008-05-04 08:27pm

ArmorPierce wrote:
Phantasee wrote:You could replace more of the finger and other limbs by giving an artificial skeleton to grow around. A titanium radius and ulna might be needed to regrow a below-the-elbow amputee, since this magic powder doesn't grow back bone.
Does it regrow bone? It doesn't mention it in the article and I was wondering that.

There's a quote box on the article from Dr Stephen Badylak of the University of Pittsburgh, which says "I think that within ten years that we will have strategies that will re-grow the bones, and promote the growth of functional tissue around those bones." This suggests that bones are not yet included in the regeneration abilities of this powder.