Why humans don't have the ability to grow their limbs back after loosing them like some reptiles?

Question

I wonder why scientist instead of spending so much money on research for artificial limbs don't they use that money and time to do a research on finding what part of the dna from the reptiles is responsible for having the ability to grow the limbs back after loosing them.

Answer 1

That's Deep.

Answer 2

reptiles don't grow back limbs, they grow back detatched tails, which are a **little** different from limbs.

Answer 3

maybe they're for the more reachable solution. clearly, if they research about the reptile thing that also means starting over again. i think they're trying to solve a problem first then move on to a new one.

Answer 4

They are.  They've been studying that for many years.

BTW, Reptiles cannot grow "limbs" back.  Only lizards can grow their tails back.  Some Amphibians, like salamanders "can" grow their legs back if they're lost.  Many invertebrates can also grow body parts back, but they are so far from man that it's not workable.  Only the lower form of vertebrates can do that, and are close enough to man to be worth studying.

Answer 5

Well, that is a good question. I imagine that they've researched it, but probably the research reached a dead end, or they still haven't found something. Our DNA is not the same as reptiles I'd say, nor is our body structure. Maybe it's how the reptile's body is made. It takes months for a little bit of bone to reconstruct itself (e.g. jaw bone), so how long would it take a whole limb?

Answer 6

In August 2005, an elderly hobby-store salesman from Cincinnati, Lee Spevick, lost the tip of his index finger when he put it through a moving propeller of a remote control plane. The force of the propeller was so great, the end of his finger was thrust out of an open window and onto a busy road where his fingertip was never found.

Four days after the incident, Spevick recieved a phonecall from a company based in New York, asking him whether he would like to take part in some testing of a new product. This product was a fine powder, which when applied made his fingertip grow back in six weeks.

Instead of growing parts of our body back like reptiles, humans scar, but this powder, now known as 'Magic Dust', stops the body from scaring, resulting in the finger growing back.

'Magic Dust' has been used on eight occasions, all of which were on severed fingertips and all of which were succesful. It is not known if this product would work on a fully severed limb, such as a whole arm, as it is not known if the joint, or in the case of an arm, elbow would grow back.

If it is found that it can safely be used and grow back full arms, it is thought that the the United States Military will use it to re-grow the limbs of soldiers who lost theirs in Afghanistan or Iraq after 2011.

Also, it will be used for a few other select purposes, but at $90,000 per 100g, it is not thought that this product will be easily accesable.

Answer 7

Reptiles cannot regrow their limbs. Some lizards, such as geckos, can shed their tails if attacked by a predator - the tail distracts the predator, allowing the gecko to escape - and the tail later grows back, but limbs do not regenerate if lost. Note that not all lizards can shed and regrow their tails, either - many cannot (e.g. iguanas, monitor lizards, etc.).

Limb regeneration is known in certain amphibians, like salamanders, and in invertebrates such as starfish. Much research into how they do this has been done and it is continuing to be investigated.