organs
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US Government Wanted To Make The Perfect Artificial Heart — With Radioactive Decay
The idea of putting a decaying radioactive isotope inside your chest might make you a little uneasy — and rightly so. But, in 1967, the National Heart Institute and the Atomic Energy Agency set out to make it happen in the form of an plutonium-238-powered atomic heart. Think Tony Stark with nuclear waste in his…
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The Amazing Story Of The Woman Who Had To Be Upside Down To Stay Alive
Discover Magazine has an amazing story about how a woman needed to be carried upside down in order to stay alive. It sounds crazy, but it’s real. The reason she had to be held upside down was because her pacemaker had disconnected from her heart.
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One Kidney Has Been Inside Three People In Just Two Weeks
When Ray Fearing received a kidney from his sister, Cera, after a long battle with a disease which forms scar tissue on the kidney, he was extremely relieved. Sadly, his condition worsened, and the doctors had no choice but to remove the kidney. But it went on to find itself inside a third patient.
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The Dark Side Of Being An Organ Donor
Becoming an organ donor is widely considered a good thing. If you die and offer up your body to medicine, you can extend the life of others with zero inconvenience — after all, you’re dead. But it turns out that the reality of organ donation isn’t quite so crystal clear, and that it’s something you…