Lizard People

Once in awhile, I come across a story that blows my mind, and I just have to bring it to your attention. This is one that I literally could not believe when I read it, but it's true.

Lee Spievack is a 60-plus year-old hobbyist who sliced off the tip of his finger while working on a model airplane. Spievack's brother, Alan, a medical researcher, sent him a special powder in the mail and told him to sprinkle it on the wound on his finger. Lee did as instructed and covered the wound in the powder. Within four weeks, the tip of his finger grew back.

Did you hear me? I said his friggin' finger grew BACK!

Flesh, blood vessels, fingerprint, nail, everything. It's unbelievable. What was in the powder, you ask? Pig's bladder. Of all the darndest things, ground up pig's bladder makes human body parts grow back. Who knew? Here's the video (forgive the annoying commercial that comes first):



You see, the human body has an innate ability to regenerate. It's just a matter of finding a way to stimulate the cells to start growing. Apparently the protein and pig's bladder goodness, also known as "extracellular matrix," tells these cells to start growing. In theory, this means that it's possible to regrow an entire limb. Or other body parts. The ramifications are astounding. Imagine being able to grow your own heart if you needed it for a transplant. Or regrowing an arm that you lost in an accident. Or an eye, an ear. Right now, they're growing mouse hearts, and they say it's just a matter of time before they grow a human heart.

Truly amazing.

Now this got me thinking. This powder can grow things. I mean, it grew back the tip of a finger, for goodness sakes. Naturally, this makes one wonder whether sprinkling the powder on other things might make them grow too. What would happen if you added the powder to what already was there? Could you grow an extra long uh, finger? Purely a theoretical question of course. I'm quite satisfied with the size of my fingers. I'm just wondering for scientific purposes. The problem is, according to Mr. Spievack, you need an open wound for the powder to work. That right there takes this experiment right off the table. I'm not cutting my finger off for the hell of it.

Plus it sounds like the regeneration power only gives you back what you lost. Nothing extra. So if this science advances to the point where we're able to regrow any body part, it looks like we'll just have to be satisfied with getting back what we were born with. That seems appropriate, no?