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It is better on some occasions not to choose, than to choose the wrong thing.
Sophie’s Choice.
If I’m not mistaken that’s a picture of the rat onto which an artificial ear was grafted onto correct?
it may seem wrong to look at but the rat showed no physical or psychological distress about the procedure and of course if I recall correctly it helped to develop facial reconstruction procedures that promoted the growth of cartiledge or something of that nature that meant it would appear as though it was natural (might need to do a bit of research, can’t really remember the story that well)finally found some info on the process
http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1995/10-25-95/news/Mouse-Ear.htmlIt is better on some occasions not to choose, than to choose the wrong thing.
sometimes doing nothing at all is worse than choosing the ‘wrong’ thing, also one can never fully auger the consequences of an action (hence why we can’t base every decision we make upon the hedonic calculus) so how do we know for sure if an action is the right or wrong thing to do unless we do it, and hopefully learn from any mistakes made along the way. The nature of life itself is based upon trial and error
We really should open a Pseuds Corner thread.
ladies first, minim
@Forget Me Not wrote:
now I believe you’re entering the debate of at what time is the embryo no longer a ‘potential human being’ but an ‘actual human being’. just to go back to the last point you made sharon, choice is the main matter, but the problem with choices is that they have to be made, one can’t sit on the fench forever.
We have the technology and capability to save lives, and considering that every living creature is programmed with the instinct to continue its own existence, shouldn’t we use any and all available means in order to extend our own brief spell on this mortal coil?
I hate to say it but… is this a case where the ends justify the means?I jolly well can and will! Its comfy for my bottom! and I like a good fench.
haha, through crafty editing I correct my mistake (one typo and they never let you forget it)
taking the middle path and remaining neutral is all well and good but the decision is still there and will have to be made sooner or later, you can only delay the inevitable for so long before being forced to commit yourself to a course of actionThis stem cell research and eventual therapy is a long way off yet. But this is a drastically needed first step.
Scientists want to do research on human stem cells, to do this they need human embryos. The problem is that normally you need human eggs and human sperm to make these. Understandably few people are willing to donate their eggs.
So they used a cunning way around this. You take a cows or other mammals egg (freely availible, embryo transfer has been used in cattle for years), remove all the genetic material inside it, and then take a human cell of any kind (certain forms are best, cheek I believe is a good candidate), remove ALL of its DNA, and put this into the now empty cows egg.
Egg sorts its machinery out, and begins to replicate- hey presto, a human embryo, which if it was implanted in a human uterus, would produce a perfectly normal human baby.
But all the embryos (a tiny ball of unspecialised ‘starter’ cells at this stage) are destroyed before then, once the stem cells are removed.
Stem cells could be lifesaving one day, and have the potential to replace or repair our bodies in many different ways. Stem cells as their name suggest can grow into any kind of cell or tissue type you want- if you want a new liver for example, you can grow them into one, there is even a bit of research being done so that you could have all your teeth taken out, and have new ones in their places, home grown, in your mouth by placing stem cells in the required areas.
Growing an ear is a lot simpler of course, but that was the first step. I seem to remember the boys ear was a complete success?
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