Scientists have created a tadpole that can literally watch what it eats: The tadpole has an eye growing in its gut.
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Led by developmental biologist Michael Levin of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., the researchers manipulated cells in the tadpole’s gut to take on a specific electrical state. Those cells developed into a fully formed eye. Inducing just the right electrical state in cells can lead to eye growth anywhere on the body, the team reports online December 7 in Development.
Bizarre as the experiment sounds, it is a major step toward regenerating complex organs and limbs. One day, Levin says, someone who loses an arm or leg might be able to slip on a special sleeve that will electrically stimulate cells at the wound site to regrow the missing limb.