4w ago

Scientists Discover the Key to Axolotls’ Ability to Regenerate Limbs

www.wired.com

"In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers reveal an elegant molecular mechanism that acts like a GPS coordinate system for regenerating cells.... the puzzle was how the cells in the regenerating limb-stump controlled their levels so precisely to know exactly where they were on the axis from shoulder to hand.”

The Nature paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59497-5

48 comments

Does this lead to me getting a bigger dick? Otherwise, I'm not interested!
- no but if it gets cut off for whatever reason...
  
  Finally I can get my foreskin back
  
  New kink unlocked
  
  Fuck. I want to get rid of it, not grow a new one.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byDiILrNbM4
- It will. It’ll finally grow back now.
  
  How did you know? I gave no hints
  
  Hey! I'm a grower too! Definitely not a shower.
  
  So this is what they meant by Jesus' second coming.
  
  Thank you, Jesus, I needed you.
Woah, fascinating. Of course very far out, but manipulating and regenerating human limbs in a similar way would be serious sci-fi stuff. Just impressive
- Not that I would be an expert, but limbs start forming so early on in the womb, that that will probably be a very difficult thing to do. Nevertheless, never say never.
  
  just put people back in for repairs
  
  How it could work in a future: they pre-grow limbs in labs for a few months/yearst, then when somebody needs it, they attach one that matches closely. After that, you get the treatment and the limb continues growing until it reaches the size needed.
  
  Now's a good time to point out that the first organ transplant happened in the 1950s, and it hasn't been even 80 years since, meaning there are not only people alive who remember a time when that didn't exist, but also there are surgeons who may only be in their early 40s that became transplant surgeons while the first ever transplant surgeon was still alive, and may have even gotten tutelage from him.
  
  Hmm, I think I’d rather have a cool cyberpunk robot limb then just regrowing my shitty old flesh and blood one
  
  Come on, it will only take 20 years.
Until they try it on humans and it turns out it also grows cancer.
- Finally we can all become Deadpool
  
  Or Curt Connors
  
  Finally, I can become bisexual, and funny!
- Then they just need to figure out how to use the non-cancer-gene from those blind naked African rats who can run equally fast forward and backwards, look like a wrinkly penis with legs and teeth and are friends with Ron Stoppable and we will have figured out a cure to cancer while regenerating body parts left and right. It'll be great.
  
  Do you want morlocks? 'Cos that's how you get morlocks
- Axolotls actually have unusally low cancer rates despite their regenerative abilities - they've evolved special tumor supressor genes that work alongside their regeneration pathways, wich is why researchers are studying both mechanisms together!
- That seems to be what they are trying to control. Just "turning on" the regenerative mechanisms is a fast track to a cancerous growth. This research seems to be aimed at understanding how to provide that mechanism with the chemical instruction of what to grow into. While we aren't there yet, each time a new part of that instruction set is figured out, we get a step closer to regrowing lost tissue. Living organisms are incredibly complex and understanding large, complex processes like growing a limb is going to take a lot of work and time.
- Axolotls can't have cancer?
  
  They can but have additional mechanisms to attack cancer apparently.
I don't want to know how much testing they needed to do for that
At this point, I'm willing to a genetic test subject. Worst case I look like an axolotl, but others will be one step closer to enjoying the fruits.
- That's a great idea. A banana that regenerates when you cut it in half.
  
  First step, give the banana a mouth
HUGE NEWS!

48 comments