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The human brain is an amazing biological machine that is responsible for everything from fantasizing Shakespearean sonnets to coordinating muscles to score World Cup-winning goals. But while our brains remain active as we age, our bodies often don’t.
That’s the thinking of controversial neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero. recent articles It may be “technically feasible” to halt aging simply by scooping out a human brain and transplanting it into a young, agile body. The article, entitled “It’s possible,” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Surgical Neurology International (SNI). Canavero serves as editor.
If this procedure rings any bells, it may be because Canavero put forward a similar idea in 2015. Proposed Whole head transplant. The claim was exaggerated and highly controversial, and later became an international sensation when he said he had found a volunteer for the operation. part of metal gear solid–Related conspiracy theoriesMany physicians dismiss this procedure as not based on current science and have not been completed in living human subjects to date.
In an email to Motherboard, Canavero said the head transplant “works” and that his previous work was just a stepping stone to brain transplants.
“Human head transplantation was an intermediate step towards brain transplantation. [head transplant], which is much simpler,” Canavero said. “But I can say that HT works, but unfortunately it doesn’t rejuvenate aging head tissues such as the eyes. BT [Brain transplant] It’s the only option. ”
Canavero’s claims about head transplants have been difficult to verify. In 2017, SNI published a piece by his Canavero and his Chinese colleague Xiaoping Ren, who is also on the editorial board of his SNI.Head transplant rehearsal report on a human corpse. A live volunteer subject, a Russian male with hereditary degenerative muscular atrophy, pulled out of the planned procedure in 2019. Also in that year, the SNI published a work by Canavero and Ren that it claims to report. Successful Spinal Cord Repair in Animals.
Canavero told Motherboard He “cannot speak freely about the HT project deployed in China other than to say it works.”
In a new paper, co-edited by himself and Ren, Canavero describes how, in theory, a person’s brain could be removed and transplanted into the skull of a cloned or donated brain-dead “immune-modulated” body. doing. Canavero describes a “robotic scoop with retractable tines” that pulls the brain out of the skull, as well as possible solutions to several unsolved problems surrounding brain transplantation, such as how nerves and blood vessels can be reconnected. We also provide strategies.
“The unavailability of technology that successfully rejuvenates the aging body suggests that it’s time to explore other options,” the paper notes. Theoretically, full BT is achievable, of course, requiring even more extensive cadaveric rehearsals, followed by testing in brain-dead organ donors (for example, recently in kidney xenografts). A new surgical instrument needs to be developed, and with the right funding, a long-held dream may finally come true.”
The ultimate goal of such procedures, Canavero writes in his paper, is to extend the number of years a person can enjoy life in their “original body.” It is not similar to what advocates use. Proponents of CRISPR suggest using the technique in embryos to cut out unwanted genes that can lead to physical or mental disorders. As a revival of eugenics.
Problem or not, there is a great deal of interest in extending human lifespan, and there is an entire field of science and pseudoscience devoted to “transhumanism” and lifespan extension, including among Silicon Valley’s elite. . These methods include everything from ingesting certain substances to transfusions of “young blood” to cryogenic temperatures to attempts to recreate humans as immortal AI. So far, none of these attempts have involved transplanting one’s own brain into a clone of oneself.
There are still big questions about whether what Canavero proposed would actually work in living humans (especially since part of the solution depends on developing human clones). public.
