I wish I could regrow my wisdom teeth, that way I can havethem as spares in case I lose any of the others.
6/24/08 @ 17:02
steph
thats really cool maybe instead of inplanting organs and needing to get a doner will not have to be worried about like you said. its a great idea and another reason why were number 1!
5/26/08 @ 21:00
Yam
The BBC seriously screwed up that finger article.
A tiny tip of a finger, bad angles a story blown out of proportion and a somewhat genius marketing strategy.
That’s all I’m saying. ;)
5/12/08 @ 17:54
Scott
Ingrid:
Your argument might make sense if you died when you were 5 weeks old. Otherwise pretty obviously your own genetic material generated an organ that lasted quite a while. If you are 40 when your heart fails and they use your own material to generate a new heart (of the correct size for your current body) then likely it will last quite a while (maybe not 40 years, but when it fails they’ll just grow you another). Also, if the genetic defect was physical (like a thin spot in the wall of one of the sections of your heart) they could simply fix it or encourage it to grow more thick during the process before “beaming it in” ;-)
Will there be situations where you can’t use a person’s own template to grow the new organ? Obviously. However, that doesn’t invalidate the concept any more than the fact that most car crashes end up with a broken bumper invalidates wrecking yards selling used bumpers.
5/8/08 @ 12:49
Nordbrandt
If I were to guess I’d say it would be available to those that could afford it. And I doubt it would be covered by insurance unless it was a major organ that you needed to live.
5/8/08 @ 10:24
Jonny H
I wonder if more people watch this than I think they do. There should be more commenting on such well produced videos.
5/7/08 @ 18:30
Amy
I find the ability to create new organs to be fascinating. The bigger question is who gets to benefit from the new technology when it becomes available?
We have to die of something. It seems ‘we’ spend considerable time and money finding ways to put off the inevitable.
5/7/08 @ 11:22
Nordbrandt
When growing new organs “they” take only the healthy cells of whatever they are going to grow. Genetic conditions can be found and eliminated before growing the organ.
5/7/08 @ 0:10
Ingrid
Yeah, but what does your own genetic material do for you, when your heart is failing due a genetic condition. Like for example HCM. Then you can’t really use your own material, because then you would grow another heart with the condition. Of course you could always try a relative, but then you still have to worry about type matching and rejection.
5/6/08 @ 21:51
Laura B
Love the show…however, your “Captin Kirk” is horrible! Crewman red shirt…so true, if they had a red shirt they were always killed on away missions.
5/6/08 @ 19:40
Jayder
I once saw something about printing organs with an inkjet printer. They replaced the ink with cells and printed one layer at a time.
May 6th, 2008 
11 Comments
Meandering
I wish I could regrow my wisdom teeth, that way I can havethem as spares in case I lose any of the others.
steph
thats really cool maybe instead of inplanting organs and needing to get a doner will not have to be worried about like you said. its a great idea and another reason why were number 1!
Yam
The BBC seriously screwed up that finger article.
A tiny tip of a finger, bad angles a story blown out of proportion and a somewhat genius marketing strategy.
That’s all I’m saying. ;)
Scott
Ingrid:
Your argument might make sense if you died when you were 5 weeks old. Otherwise pretty obviously your own genetic material generated an organ that lasted quite a while. If you are 40 when your heart fails and they use your own material to generate a new heart (of the correct size for your current body) then likely it will last quite a while (maybe not 40 years, but when it fails they’ll just grow you another). Also, if the genetic defect was physical (like a thin spot in the wall of one of the sections of your heart) they could simply fix it or encourage it to grow more thick during the process before “beaming it in” ;-)
Will there be situations where you can’t use a person’s own template to grow the new organ? Obviously. However, that doesn’t invalidate the concept any more than the fact that most car crashes end up with a broken bumper invalidates wrecking yards selling used bumpers.
Nordbrandt
If I were to guess I’d say it would be available to those that could afford it. And I doubt it would be covered by insurance unless it was a major organ that you needed to live.
Jonny H
I wonder if more people watch this than I think they do. There should be more commenting on such well produced videos.
Amy
I find the ability to create new organs to be fascinating. The bigger question is who gets to benefit from the new technology when it becomes available?
We have to die of something. It seems ‘we’ spend considerable time and money finding ways to put off the inevitable.
Nordbrandt
When growing new organs “they” take only the healthy cells of whatever they are going to grow. Genetic conditions can be found and eliminated before growing the organ.
Ingrid
Yeah, but what does your own genetic material do for you, when your heart is failing due a genetic condition. Like for example HCM. Then you can’t really use your own material, because then you would grow another heart with the condition. Of course you could always try a relative, but then you still have to worry about type matching and rejection.
Laura B
Love the show…however, your “Captin Kirk” is horrible! Crewman red shirt…so true, if they had a red shirt they were always killed on away missions.
Jayder
I once saw something about printing organs with an inkjet printer. They replaced the ink with cells and printed one layer at a time.
They printed a small working heart.