How Replaceable Are We, Really? In her new book, Mary Roach explores the future of the human body Matt Hanson 0 Comments biotechnology , body modification , Mary Roach , medical ethics , nonfiction books , Replaceable You , science and humor , science journalism , W.W. Norton A few years ago, I had a boozy chat with an MIT grad student which I’ve never forgotten. We got onto the topic of genetic engineering, and he casually but confidently told me that designer babies will be a common thing in about ten years. The conversation was less than ten years ago now, but it’s not too far from what the indefatigable Mary Roach has taken up in her fun and informative new book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy By Mary Roach W.W. Norton, 288 pages Roach’s beat is the quirkier aspect of science. In her book Gulp she explained the seemingly mundane yet complex and fascinating mechanisms at work when we swallow and digest, and in Fuzz she explored how bureaucracies respond when animals break the law. In Replaceable You she hopscotches through the various ways in which doctors (and sometimes those less credentialed and ethical) can augment body parts, transfuse blood, graft or harvest tissue, donate organs, or fashion a variety of prosthetics, from the usual spots like the eyes or the kidneys to the places below the belt. Her inquisitive, humorous tone is a most welcome guide to complex science if, like me, you’re a right-brained type who daydreamed through science classes. As a bestselling science journalist Roach knows her stuff. That informed curiosity encourages the experts to explain their life’s work and its implications. An American company called United Therapeutics has already created pigs with genes that might work in human bodies. Buying a UHeart and UKidney might sound a little like something out of a dystopian sci-fi movie, like an Amazon or Starbucks wish list of various internal organs for sale, but the proposition is quite real. One unnervingly enthusiastic Chinese professor enthuses that a pig’s organ might become a more workable match than one coming from another human. When Roach asks how many years will it be before organs like UHeart and UKidney are used and even covered by insurance. “Optimistically, he says, five years. Conservatively? Ten.” He thinks the Americans will get there first, then the Germans, then the Chinese. Roach speculates at the possibility of “26-story organ farms” and the professor says “yes! You are right! That’s the future!” Understandably, Roach doesn’t get into the weeds about the philosophical or moral implications of various organ transplants. There are plenty of other books which engage in that debate. Throughout Replaceable You Roach’s tone is more of a bemused observer than a polemicist. She’s more likely to point out the comic potential of her subjects, like when is investigating the concept of printable organs, she reveals that “I own a 3D printed facsimile of a human rectum, made of hard plastic.” Digging into the nitty gritty of human anatomy can provide quite a unique visual. When in Tbilisi, Georgia, at the Kuzanov Clinic she observes a doctor’s files on how to do a finger transplant on a cancer survivor to replace an amputated penis. “I’d pictured a whole, unadulterated finger…In reality, a flap of the patient’s skin is removed from elsewhere and wrapped around a rigid interior implant. Instead of commercial penile implants supplying the rigidity, it’s the patient’s middle finger. The digit is skinned but otherwise implanted whole.” And apparently it works. At one point Roach dons a gown and gloves to feel a reanimated heart. “Cupping a warm, beating heart in your hand is as surreal as you might imagine. It’s the stuff of slasher films and human sacrifice, but to me it doesn’t feel disturbing. Is there a word for awe mixed with tenderness? That’s how it feels.” Probably the right way to think about our often vexing bodies even when they are subject to a variety of technological innovations, some scarier in their implications than others. We might not be exactly where my boozy MIT friend expected us to be, but we’re frighteningly close. Roach doesn’t cheerlead for a brave new anatomical future, but neither does she decry it. She ends the book on an appreciative note: “the body’s all-day, everyday achievements — the architectural brilliance of cartilage or tooth enamel, the effortless autofocus of the eye, a heartbeat so committed it persists outside a body — these are the real miracles.” You May Also Like Source: https://bookandfilmglobe.com/books/how-replaceable-are-we-really/