> That helped them pinpoint a molecule called retinoic acid—a derivative of vitamin A found in many skincare products—as a key ingredient for limb regeneration
Hoo boy, I am seeing some serious fuel for snake oil, here.
I wonder how long before I start getting spam selling retinoic acid as an aid in growing ... er, a ... limb ...
Also, I wonder if the article was edited by AI. That may not be a bad thing, but it would be interesting if The Smithsonian is using AI editors.
Here is the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59497-5
Biologist Michael Levin posits that bio-electric fields “, not simply genes, hold the key to limb regeneration.
I wonder how much stress growing a whole limb imply on the body.
Would it male you prone to get cancer, since all that replication "depleted" our stem cells and brown fat reserves? What about our telomeres?
Do we know how a human would regrow a limb? Would it start out as a small limb and grow out or just grow arm first then elbow, forearm, etc.
So that's why they named the tech to build gholas after them.
[flagged]
I wandered lonely as a clod,
Just picking up old rags and bottles,
When onward on my way I plod,
I saw a host of axolotls;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
A sight to make a man’s blood freeze.
//
Some had handles, some were plain;
They came in blue, red pink, and green.
A few were orange in the main;
The damnedest sight I’ve ever seen.
The females gave a sprightly glance;
The male ones all wore knee-length pants.
//
Now oft, when on the couch I lie,
The doctor asks me what I see.
They flash upon my inward eye
And make me laugh in fiendish glee.
I find my solace then in bottles,
And I forget them axolotls.