Frankenstein, eat your heart out!

With the recent news that they have invented a machine that can keep a heart beating outside of the body, I couldn't help but see a near future out of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus.

Considering the short history of medical science and the many occasions religion has obstructed progress in research... the fact that we can transplant almost any body part, clone and genetically alter any living being is beyond amazing. Sci-fi has truly become reality. With all that we know in theory and application... we may very well be closer to bringing the dead back to life, then ever before.

This thread is an attempt to explore the potential we have in achieving immortality through resurrection... and what better place to start then the heart?

Researchers at the North Carolina State University has developed a machine that can keep a heart beating outside the body. The potential medical benefit is huge...

"Researchers can obtain pig hearts from a pork processing facility and use the system to test their prototypes or practice new surgical procedures," says Andrew Richards, a Ph. D. student in mechanical engineering at NC State who designed the heart machine.

The computer-controlled machine, which operates using pressurized saline solution, also allows researchers to film the interior workings of the pumping heart - enabling them to ascertain exactly which surgical technologies and techniques perform best for repairing heart valves.

source: www.medgadget.com...

Only a test for now... the next logical step?






[edit on 3-6-2009 by The All Seeing I]

reply to post by The All Seeing I


You're right.
And with the obvious lack of interest in religion these days the clerics no longer hold much sway, so they dont have a big say in things anymore. And with the human psyche hell-bent on progress in all areas of technology with a desire to control every aspect of known existence.
The obvious future is an extremely advanced medical world with the ability to prolong life to an extent not imagined today.
It's not a good idea. Too many humans is not a good scenario for any planet. We have a natural lifespan for a reason, so we on't overpopulate. We have to die. Or there'll be too many of us.
Uh oh, too late.

this is freaking disgusting

Mad Science Alert!

these guys are mentally disturbed to even consider taking a heart out of a body and trying to make it work off a machine

Twisted

reply to post by muzzleflash


It's all a matter of perspective, we don't think it's disgusting when we take parts out of a car to be tested or use to build a car from scratch taking each part from a different source/manufacture. I use the car as an analogy because there are so many parallels to the human body.

lights and side/rear view mirors = eyes
oil = blood
oil filter = kidneys
anti-freeze = sweat
water pump = sweat gland
main computer = brain
air intake/pistons = lungs
engine = stomach
exhaust pipe = digestive track

The means in which mechanics diagnosis a problem is very similar to that of a doctor... they run tests and based on the results and educated guessing they experiment with the most likely cure(s).

[edit on 4-6-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Now for the ability to bridge the gap between biology and technology, i found this particularly mind blowing:

DARPA’s Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems project (HI-MEMS)

Just two weeks ago, 1st double hand transplant was performed:

Ten years ago, Jeff Kepner lost both his hands and feet to a bacterial infection. Today, he is recovering from the first US double hand transplant surgery. Soon, he’ll be able to hold his daughter’s hand for the first time in a decade.

Kepner, a 57-year-old pastry chef living in Georgia, got his new hands after a nine-hour surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is still recovering, but has strong circulation in both hands and has showed no signs of organ rejection. The success of his surgery is in part due to a unique new procedure to improve an organ’s chance of being accepted by the body.

source: singularityhub.com...

I can't help but think of 'the Hand' in the Adams Family

...but seriously this is absolutely amazing.

In my search for the predecessor of the heart animator, i stumbled across a truly frankenstein-ish experiment that has me officially creeped out ...yet morbidly fascinated. Don't even mention the animal rights issues here, i'm afraid to even ask.

Bruyukhonenko's mad experiments on dogs led to the development of open-heart procedures. He developed a crude machine called the autojektor (a heart and lung machine). By using this primitive machine, Bryukhonenko kept the heads of severed dogs alive. In 1928, he displayed one of the heads in front of an audience. To prove it was real, he banged a hammer on the table. The head flinched. When a light was shone in its eyes, the eyes blinked. And when it was fed a piece of cheese, the remnants promptly popped out of the esophageal tube, much to the displeasure of disgusted viewers.

[edit on 10-6-2009 by The All Seeing I]

and the next step gets even stranger still...

On 1954, soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov, revealed his masterpiece to the world: a two-headed dog. The head of a puppy had been grafted onto the neck of an adult German shepherd. The second head would lap at milk, even though it did not need nourishment — and though the milk then dribbled down the neck from its disconnected oesophagus. Although both animals soon died because of tissue rejection, that did not stop Demikhov from creating 19 more over the next 15 years. See a video of the surgery.

[edit on 10-6-2009 by The All Seeing I]

Again i can't believe we have ventured so far in this area. Here's an amazing documentary that reconfirms all of these seemingly unbelievable advancements. Dr. White might just be our closest modern day frankenstein yet. Absolutely mind blowing... no pun intended

Part 1: Brain Power


Part 2: Remember When?


Part 3: Mind Matters


Part 4: Back to Life


Part 5: A Leap of Faith


Part 6: Head to Head


Part 7: Could vs Should


At the very end, it's revealed that White's lab was closed... without any explanation for why. Are we left to assume that his accomplishments and works in progress were attracting too much criticism? As cruel and unusual these experiments may seem, many have proven to be great breakthroughs in aiding the advancement of vital organ transplants, and many more with the brain showed even greater promise for the future. Imagine swapping your 80-90 year old body for a 20-30 year olds? or in the case of someone with a body riddled with a disability or deformity swapping for a fully enabled one?

[edit on 10-6-2009 by The All Seeing I]