English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

Once the epiphyseal plates of the long bones have closed, further bone growth is considered impossible. Considering that height, or lack thereof, has considerable sociological ramifications, will it be possible to one day "choose" our height? Many of you know that shorter people are on average paid less, date less, and are respected less. A recent study revealed that shorter people may even be less intelligent.

I already know about growth hormone for children, but the maximum height you can gain from it is 3". I'm too old for it as it is.

Can biotechnology, nanotechnology, future medical technology help allieviate this disease to the people it has already inflicted? We already have the "Ilizarov Method," or 'limb lenghtening' method as one form of primative invasive biotechnology.

Recently, an ultrasound device has been developed by scientists to regrow teeth. It may be one day used for people to gain height. Please read the attached link. When do you think this will happen?

2007-03-18 14:30:37 · 3 answers · asked by Marc 1 in Science & Mathematics Biology

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2006/06/ultrasound_base.html

When will this technology come about? Is transhumanism the only hope?

I already am familiar with the use of Growth Hormone in children, but again, this is still primitive - you can, at best, gain 3 inches which is worthless compared to the $100,000 you'd have to pay.

Thank you.

2007-03-18 14:31:20 · update #1

3 answers

We can. In fact we have the technology to do it right now, as long as we can identify the gene responsible for it. A lot of things, like human cloning, can already be done, but we avoid it for moral reasons (and for very good ones). Eugenics is a major issue, and i think it's going to be a huge debate in a few decades or so. In any case, it won't work for grown people; you can't change the DNA of a grown person (well you could; but you would have to get viruses to infect every cell in your body), and even if you did, it'd be too late to change anything. But yeah, it is possible in the near future that we could be designing our babies. Scary, isn't it?

2007-03-18 14:36:11 · answer #1 · answered by kz 4 · 0 0

regrettably the upward push your finding for shouldn't ensue on your lifetime. there will be advances in changing DNA sooner or later. this methodology is obtainable now yet human know-how has to alter for it to artwork nicely. If technology did come across a secure thank you to advance up boost, it may be criticized with the help of classic cutting-area drugs for years. save watching the recent advances in technologies, this is coming.

2016-10-19 00:58:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

maybe someday but wouldn't it hurt really bad?

2007-03-18 14:33:29 · answer #3 · answered by gmnastcsrocks 2 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers