Do deer antlers hold the key to regrowing limbs?

[dnealy]

Originally published at: Do deer antlers hold the key to regrowing limbs? | Boing Boing

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[muser]

@dnealy

still lingers in the back of my mind like a haggard squatter in a ransacked flophouse.

[NukeML]

It’s been tried.

[Beanolini]

@dnealy

Conners was in the wrong phylum of the animal kingdom. Deers were the correct answer all along.

Reptiles and deer are in the same phylum, ‘class’ is what you wanted.

[Otherbrother]

@dnealy

Even though I saw the fictitious experiment go south, a part of my seven-year-old brain was like, "well, hang on, let’s just get this guy better funding. He’s on the right track. I’m sure Reed Richards could give him some guidance."

As it turns out, Conners was in the wrong phylum of the animal kingdom. Deers were the correct answer all along.

Still seems like there may be a risk of unintended complications.

[Mister44]

Of course antlers fall off and regrow every year… so hopefully what ever technology we develop based on this, doesn’t have the new limb fall off and regrow every year.

[j9c]

Ok but sometimes, in special cases, there are deer who keep their racks all season:

The Buck That Never Shed Its Antlers

(I have seen deer here in Central Texas that do this–racks all summer long. Probably another sign of The End Times.)

[Surprise_Puma]

Plus all the guys who have this procedure done will start fighting each other as soon as their limbs reach maturity!

[Mister44]

OH, and they would grow a little larger every year. Some old guy who lost his arm a long time ago would have this huge Hulk arm.

[VeronicaConnor]

@dnealy

Apparently, the cells in antlers resemble those found in cancer, which is why deers have extremely low cancer rates. Basically, deer genetics have found a way to channel cancer into the thorny protrusion that grows from their heads.

You, um, got a source on that? Non-scientists said that about sharks for decades and it was never true. A lot of pseudoscientific medical claims start with stories like that.

Edit: I did some looking around, and the claims above are widely repeated in pop-science places. However the actual research from primary sources is pretty thin. A few surveys of cancer rates from zoos, some non-peer-reviewed stuff out of China (a country with a pretty sketchy reputation right now in the international science community) and not much else. I’d say we’d better say the jury is still out in this set of claims about deer.

[Surprise_Puma]

I never knew JK Simmons had a thresher accident but it explains all those “we are farmers” commercials.

[Weasel-Rah]

Mainly I just want a set of antlers.