Chapter 596: Not Without Counterexamples
Speaking of cloning technology, Xu You couldn't help but frown.
This direction can indeed solve related problems, even organ transplantation.
However, cloning technology has a very big drawback.
"Wenkun, if you want to use human cloning to help treat these diseases, the biggest problem is ethics, right?"
With current human technology, human cloning is actually possible.
There may even be some laboratories in the world that have secretly completed human cloning experiments, but have not announced them to the public.
After all, humans are different from other creatures. If clones really appear, they will indeed face various problems.
Should clones have the same status as humans? And can we clone ourselves and use them to help us cure diseases?
These various issues obviously require the establishment of a set of detailed standards.
"Of course, ethics is indeed a very important issue. We certainly cannot use cloned humans for transplantation directly. Instead, we can clone only certain organ parts and then transplant them into the original owner. This kind of organ cloning can still be accepted by the public."
Xu You nodded upon hearing this. If it were just cloned organs, it would indeed not be considered a complete life.
Therapeutic cloning is generally allowed in countries around the world, because as long as the purpose of cloning is not to cultivate the embryo into a complete person, but only to cultivate some organs, it will not involve various ethical issues.
At this time, Xu You was still somewhat curious about Luo Wenkun's original intention, so he tried to ask:
"Wenkun, why did you first think of bone regeneration?"
According to the general public's thinking, perhaps conquering cancer and AIDS is a more popular direction.
Luo Wenkun paused for a moment after hearing this, and replied with a heavy expression:
"My father broke one of his legs in a car accident a few years ago. Although he has the best prosthetic limb, he still can't walk as flexibly as an ordinary person. So it has always been my long-cherished wish to restore my father's health and have complete limbs like an ordinary person."
After listening to Luo Wenkun's story, Xu You could also empathize.
If he were to encounter the same thing, Xu You would definitely be more persistent than Luo Wenkun and would be determined to solve the problem of regenerating severed limbs.
After seeing Luo Wenkun off, Xu You called Cui Ying over.
"Teacher Cui, please help me find some information related to stem cells and cloning technology. Just like before, the more and more detailed the better."
"Okay, Mr. Xu."
Although Cui Ying was a little surprised by Xu You's sudden action, she did not ask any reasons and did as she was told.
In front of Luo Wenkun, Xu You did not tell Luo Wenkun that he wanted to help Luo Wenkun conduct relevant research.
After all, fields related to biology and medicine are not Xu You’s research direction, and it is not an easy task to start research from scratch.
However, Xu You is still full of confidence, because in many fields, Xu You has achieved significant results starting from scratch.
Including Wang Xiangwu's artificial heart, Xu You accomplished this achievement by relying on his strong learning ability and creativity.
Xu You believed that he had the ability to do so.
Cui Ying was very efficient and quickly helped Xu You find a large amount of relevant information and sent it to Xu You's office.
"Teacher Xu, the first batch of relevant materials will be delivered soon. You can take a look at the electronic version first. There are too many paper versions. I have arranged for someone to deliver them. It shouldn't take too long."
"Okay, Mr. Cui, thank you for your help. Please go and do your work first."
Soon, the people Cui Ying found delivered batches of information to Xu You's office.
The amount of information was so huge that it almost filled up Xu You’s desk.
Seeing the mountains of information in the office, Xu You felt an inexplicable excitement in his heart.
This feeling is very similar to the pleasure Xu You had when he was in school, frantically devouring various learning materials.
Although Xu You is now one of the world's top scientists, to outsiders it seems that he doesn't need to learn anything at all.
However, Xu You himself knew that in the face of truth, he had only learned the basics and still had a long way to go in learning.
After entering the deep learning state, Xu You once again felt the joy of traveling in the ocean of knowledge.
In fact, Xu You’s foundation in biology is not bad. During his undergraduate studies, Xu You also took several biology-related courses, and he has a very solid grasp of many basics.
In the state of deep learning, Xu You read through all the materials at hand in just a few hours.
Xu You has also already had some ideas on how to solve the problem of regenerating severed limbs.
"In nature, the overall phenomenon is that as the level of organisms increases, the ability to regenerate becomes weaker and weaker. Salamanders can achieve complete regeneration after losing a limb. The same phenomenon is almost never seen in mammals," Xu You thought.
In mammals, only partial bone regeneration is often possible at some fingertips.
However, this is not entirely without counterexamples.
Deer antler is a special example.
Even for adult deer, after their antlers fall off, they can still grow again.
The reason is that there is a special stem cell in the periosteum of the antler stalk at the base of the antler, which can enable the antler to regenerate completely.
Following the same idea, if the human body can produce similar stem cells, it would theoretically be possible to regenerate severed limbs.
Next, Xu You tried to use his recently acquired quantum simulation skills to simulate the activities of human stem cells.
However, Xu You soon discovered that the skills of quantum simulation were not applicable to simulation at the cellular level.
"To go from the most basic quantum to form a complete cell is a huge project in itself," Xu You exclaimed.
Although cells sound small, they can be called giants compared to the various elementary particles in the microscopic world.
With current human technology, it is not possible to create a complete cell from the most basic particles.
Even Xu You did not possess similar abilities.
"It seems that quantum simulation technology is not a good choice if we want to simulate at the cellular level."
Although quantum simulation skills are an enhanced version of brain simulation skills, they are not applicable to all situations.
