The idea was first proposed in 2013 by Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy. He wants to use the surgery to extend the lives of people whose muscles and nerves have degenerated or whose organs are riddled with cancer. Now he claims the major hurdles, such as fusing the spinal cord and preventing the body's immune system from rejecting the head, are surmountable, and the surgery could be ready as early as 2017.This month (February), he published a summary of the technique he believes will allow doctors to transplant a head onto a new body, involving cooling the recipient's head and the donor body to extend the time their cells can survive without oxygen. The tissue around the neck is dissected and the major blood vessels are linked using tiny tubes, before the spinal cords of each person are cut. Cleanly severing the cords is key, says Canavero.The recipient's head is then moved onto the donor body and the two ends of the spinal cord – which resemble two densely packed bundles of spaghetti – are fused together. To achieve this, Canavero intends to flush the area with a chemical called polyethylene glycol, and follow up with several hours of injections of the same stuff. Just like hot water makes dry spaghetti stick together, polyethylene glycol encourages the fat in cell membranes to mesh. Next, the muscles and blood supply would be sutured and the recipient kept in a coma for three or four weeks to prevent movement. Implanted electrodes would provide regular electrical stimulation to the spinal cord, because research suggests this can strengthen new nerve connections.When the recipient wakes up, Canavero predicts they would be able to move and feel their face and would speak with the same voice. He says that physiotherapy would enable the person to walk within a year.The trickiest part will be getting the spinal cords to fuse. Polyethylene glycol has been shown to prompt the growth of spinal cord nerves in animals, and Canavero intends to use brain-dead organ donors to test the technique. However, others are sceptical that this would be enough. "There is no evidence that the connectivity of cord and brain would lead to useful sentient or motor function following head transplantation," says Richard Borgens, director of the Center for Paralysis Research at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
I don't believe this at all.
I'm not sure if this is safe for society. What if this creates a black market of kidnapping NBA players for midgets/manlets in order to finally get their dwarf ass laid?
bring on the ghost in the shell.
Last night I had a dream where someones head was chasing me and trying to take my body.
Bullshit.We don't have the neurological knowledge right now for this to work. It's just outrageous.
Quote from: SuperIrish on April 11, 2015, 07:59:08 PMQuote from: Arm The Mob on April 11, 2015, 06:43:18 PMBullshit.We don't have the neurological knowledge right now for this to work. It's just outrageous.They aren't exactly fucking around with the brain itself, more like the connecting all the wires from the head to the right sockets in the body/neck. And we've already done tests on mice, dogs and monkeys that was apparently worthy of some scientific info.It's really not as simple as just "connecting all the wires".
Quote from: Arm The Mob on April 11, 2015, 06:43:18 PMBullshit.We don't have the neurological knowledge right now for this to work. It's just outrageous.They aren't exactly fucking around with the brain itself, more like the connecting all the wires from the head to the right sockets in the body/neck. And we've already done tests on mice, dogs and monkeys that was apparently worthy of some scientific info.
the one true God is Doctor Doom and we should all be worshiping him.
I want my head placed on a pair of tank treads with miniguns for arms. Nobody would fuck with the headtank.
First *full body transplant* to occur in 2017
