Tadpole Eyes Open New Doors to Science
Did you think a human ear growing on the back of a rat was freaky? Wait until you get a load of this! At Tufts University, it’s all about implanting eyeballs these days. Researchers have been able to give blind tadpoles the gift of sight, but it’s in a pretty unconventional way: by grafting eyeballs onto the tadpoles’ tails.
As crazy as this sounds, it has given scientists some new insights into regenerative medicine. For starters, we now know that it’s possible to see out of eyes that are not attached directly to the brain, opening all kinds of possibilities (hopefully outside a Guillermo del Toro movie). They’ve also discovered that a migraine medicine can help the body foster nerve growth in amphibians, which could open new possibilities for humans.
What do you think of these findings?
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia