Surgeons Can Now Regrow Your Neck Bones?

So, yeah, you hear about stem cells, but it’s not until you read about surgeons doing freaky stuff with them that you realize their potential. Like the guys at UC Davis who can regrow the bones in your neck using adult stem cells.

It’s really pretty straightforward: scientists have been using stem cells from bone marrow for various blood treatments since the ’60s. Normally, when you get back or neck surgery, you undergo something called “spinal fusion”, which basically weld your vertebrae together so they don’t rub against each other. This, as anybody who has had back surgery can tell you, hurts like hell. The problem with current spinal fusion techniques is that they only work about 65% of the time…and more and more people need back surgery as our population gets older.

So, in short, this procedure will stop pain and has zero controversy. Now, let’s see if we can use it to grow bone spikes through the skin: I want to cosplay as Doomsday.

[ via the spinal taps at Eurkealert ]

×