Limb regeneration, Sound waves growing bones and The future of ageing

Life itself is decay. An eternal transition — forming, deforming and decaying. Meta! Last week I was writing a chapter for the ‘The Thousand Arms’ in which, Satori, the protagonist has to confront decay. And instead of going meta slash spiritual, I wanted to look into scientific research to understand decay. And my wobbly mind then went into reading about the future of the human body and stumbled upon these very interesting researches. I am not sure if I did find any answers for the chapter in here, but I did find these really interesting, so I hope you guys enjoy it as well.

Acute multidrug delivery via a wearable bioreactor facilitates long-term limb regeneration and functional recovery in adult Xenopus laevis

Abstract — Limb regeneration is a frontier in biomedical science. Identifying triggers of innate morphogenetic responses in vivo to induce the growth of healthy patterned tissue would address the needs of millions of patients, from diabetics to victims of trauma. Organisms such as Xenopus laevis—whose limited regenerative capacities in adulthood mirror those of humans—are important models with which to test interventions that can restore form and function. Here, we demonstrate long-term (18 months) regrowth, marked tissue repatterning, and functional restoration of an amputated X. laevis hindlimb following a 24-hour exposure to a multidrug, pro-regenerative treatment delivered by a wearable bioreactor. Regenerated tissues composed of skin, bone, vasculature, and nerves significantly exceeded the complexity and sensorimotor capacities of untreated and control animals’ hypomorphic spikes. RNA sequencing of early tissue buds revealed activation of developmental pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin, TGF-β, hedgehog, and Notch. These data demonstrate the successful “kickstarting” of endogenous regenerative pathways in a vertebrate model.

Sound waves convert stem cells into bone in regenerative breakthrough

Regrowing or replacing bone lost to disease is tricky and often painful. In a new study Australian researchers have found a relatively simple way to induce stem cells to turn into bone cells quickly and efficiently, using high-frequency sound waves.

We May Have Solved the Mystery Why Human Life Is Only About 80 Years

Have you wondered what causes the average human to die at 80?

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