Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesPosts Tagged: ‘organ transplants’
Performance Artists Reanimate Fresh Pig Hearts
by Robert Lamb | February 7, 2013
Not since Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca robot first pooped onto a conveyer belt has a work touched me with such a wonderfully bizarre mixture of performance art and science. Behold “The Body is a Big Place,” in which Peta Clancy and Helen Pynor use a heart perfusion system to reanimate to a pair of fresh pig hearts* — all set against a surreal underwater backdrop complete with an ambient soundscape created by Gail Priest.
Let’s watch…
Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
by Josh Clark | December 13, 2011
If you were to be diagnosed with the condition known as maple syrup urine disease you may think that you’ve hit the medical jackpot: All the free maple syrup you can drink at your disposal almost anytime. But you would be wrong, friend. Despite its quasi-pleasant name, MSUD — that actually is the medical term […]
I grew up loving haunted houses and mad science laboratories, so I’m not sure I can fully express out INTO the idea of vat-grown organs I really am. It’s pretty much the most mad sciencey thing imaginable, short of actually creating a monster or sewing Ray Milland’s head onto Rosey Grier’s body. And on a realistic note, sure, we’d all like to grow our crops of spare guts to replace our failing organs. But when will it be possible? As Julie and I explore in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the day is fast approaching.
In the United States, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) keeps a database of transplant candidates waiting for organs. The statistics are daunting: Demand for organs has outstripped the available supply, meaning that patients must wait for months or years before receiving an organ. According to LifeShare (via our article), each passing day brings […]
How Artificial Hearts Work – they have come a long way
by Marshall Brain | August 3, 2010
There was a time, back in the 1980s, when artificial hearts were big news. There was daily, front-page media attention around implantable artificial hearts. In 1982, Barney Clark received an artificial heart designed by Robert Jarvik and installed by Dr. William DeVries. Clark lasted almost four months before dying. (The Jarvik heart still exists and […]
You Asked:
When a brain transplant is performed, does the patient lose his or her memories? — Abby, Shoreham, N.Y.
Marshall Brain Answers:
We are still a few years away from the first human brain transplant or head transplant, although there have been experiments in animals. The following videos are not for the weak-stomached, but they do show that experiments have been done in sustaining severed brains and heads, and even transplanting heads, for several decades…
When we hear about “blanks” in a gun, the word that comes to mind is “harmless”. Yes a blank makes a loud bang, but no bullet comes out so blanks are harmless.
But people have actually been killed by blanks, as described in this video about the death of John Erik Hexum
This is a fascinating two-minute video that shows a new technique for lung transplants. The lungs to be transplanted are removed, perfused, repaired and exercised outside the body to get them ready for transplantation. The advantage, from the HowStuffWorks perspective, is that we get to see how lungs look, and how they inhale and exhale, […]
In this TED video, Anthony Atala talks about the state of the art in growing new organs for people who need them. He talks about the importance and the potential of the research: “Every 30 seconds a patient dies from diseases that could be treated with tissue replacement.” Then he demonstrates the technology that is […]
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Slay Your Paper Tigers
- Space Religion: Cao Dai and the 72 Inhabited Exoplanets
- Blow the Mind: Objects of Love
Stuff You Should Know
- “In The Neighborhood” by Jon Stewart Mosman
- “Thanatos” by Christopher Vincola
- “Frame Story” by Adam Pracht
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Show Notes: Heart-stopping Last Laps of Racing
- Never say Never: Jaguar XJ220 Spotted in the Wild!
- What’s your pick for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pace car?
How-to Stuff
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 152: Final Episodes
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 151: Mailbag!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 150: Barbie!
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Missed in History: Irish Potato Famine, Part 1
- Missed in History: Paul Poiret
- Missed in History: Benjamin Banneker
