"Mayo Clinic believes that they may be able to "Grow" a heart" Topic

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Grow Your Own Organs
By Bill Weir, C. Michael Kim, David Miller, Justin Bare & Mark Monroy | This Could Be Big – 2 hrs 24 mins ago.

There's an 80% chance that in five months Bill Weir will be the first person ever to see his cardiac tissue beating outside his body.

Last week Bill visited Dr. Tim Nelson at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to report on a revolutionary new stem cell treatment that would have sounded like science fiction even five years ago.

Different from the controversial embryonic stem cell treatment, Dr. Nelson's team took a biopsy from Bill's Bicep and are in the process of turning those cells into his own beating cardiac tissue; tissue that will beat at the same rate as the heart in his chest.

And this isn't just for the heart. After the biopsy is taken, doctors are able to wipe the hard drive of the cells and use them to create brain and lung tissue as well.

What this means is that in the future you may be able to go to your doctor and deposit a batch of cells, and if you have a stroke or heart attack later in life they'll be able to use those cells to repair the damage.

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The same process has been speculated as a "cure" for aging; it already appears to work on mice, "youtheninng" them to the apparent age of the harvested stem cells. (There does appear to be a greater successibility to cancer, however, IIRC.)

Alas, so far it seems to be limited to the age of harvesting, as I understand it. So if you're 46 (like me), you're not going to ever "reset" yourself to 25. But potentially (assuming it works), if you're able to create that "stem cell account," you could go back to the age you did it. (And even though the 46 me ain't the 25 me, I'm betting it will feel young as a newborn babe to the eventual 70+ me.)

Hmmm… wonder what the cost is to "bank" one's stem cells…

Well they need to hurry up cause at my current rate I'm gonna need to replace this one in ten or so years….

They have done this with a trachea already.

Ya, and this technology will eventually feed us too. The price will have to come down a bit first though.

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Since these burgers come from stem cells (embryonic, I believe) and no animals were harmed to make this dinner, I wonder if well-healed Vegans (like Sir Paul McCartney) will be lining up for a (guilt free) bite.

If it becomes a regular thing, and we can grow milk too, we can get rid of all the cows forever. This is the perfect way to make pigs, cows and chickens extinct.

The was a sci-fi short story by – I think – Arthur C Clark about this. In the story the technology of growing meat without animals was well established. The kicker was the favourite flavour turned out to be … (neo) human.

Man the seoncd I can have my own spare lungs I'm taking up sigar smoking, also when I get my own spare liver, I'll drink alot more to, oh an eat lots of sugger, since I can just get a new pancrias if I get diabetes.

But most of all I want a new brain, this one is full and dosn't work right anymore, I treid to overclock it, and it went bad. So now it overheats, losses memory, shuts down at random.

If it becomes a regular thing, and we can grow milk too…..

Hmmm….let's skip the milk and go right to chocolate milk!

This is the perfect way to make pigs, cows and chickens extinct.

Well, except for a few wild pigs and boars, and some wild chickens I've seen in Mexico, these animals have been domesticated for thousands of years. The cow is probably a goner.

The kicker was the favourite flavour turned out to be … (neo) human.

Doubtful, especially if you've ever smelled burnt human flesh. I'll take the bacon thank-you.

But most of all I want a new brain, this one is full and dosn't work right anymore, I treid to overclock it, and it went bad. So now it overheats, losses memory, shuts down at random.

So that's what happened………..over clocking. Damn! Er……where was I?

Great…just another excuse for jacking up retirement age once again…