Monday, November 20, 2006
The High Price We Pay
Some animals, such as salamanders, easily regenerate lost limbs. Others, like us human beings, lost that ability as our species evolved.
Now, according to ScienceDaily, a research team at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has been able to regenerate a wing in a chick embryo -- a species not known to be able to regrow limbs - suggesting that the potential for such regeneration exists innately in all vertebrates, including humans.
Opposition by the religious right to stem cell research has slowed progress in this country on developing cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes as well as treatments for those who have suffered spinal cord injuries.
Could the religious right's opposition to teaching evolution in our public schools also be delaying scientific and medical research that might lead to treatments that could regenerate missing limbs on amputees?
Such research might be vital for those citizens who've lost limbs in automobile and industrial accidents, or for soldies who've been wounded in Iraq.
Now, according to ScienceDaily, a research team at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has been able to regenerate a wing in a chick embryo -- a species not known to be able to regrow limbs - suggesting that the potential for such regeneration exists innately in all vertebrates, including humans.
Opposition by the religious right to stem cell research has slowed progress in this country on developing cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes as well as treatments for those who have suffered spinal cord injuries.
Could the religious right's opposition to teaching evolution in our public schools also be delaying scientific and medical research that might lead to treatments that could regenerate missing limbs on amputees?
Such research might be vital for those citizens who've lost limbs in automobile and industrial accidents, or for soldies who've been wounded in Iraq.
