Grow your own teeth
The days of dentures and fillings could be over.
Scientists say they have a way of growing human teeth in the lab.
Boffins at Oregon State University have discovered the gene responsible for enamel - the white outer layer of chompers that protects your teeth but doesn't grow back.
Enamel is actually the hardest stuff in the human body but obviously evolved before the invention of candy and cola.
With other research going on to grow the inner part of teeth, the latest discovery could mean that you could one day order some new gnashers when yours have been ruined by cigs, sweets, coffee and fist fights.
People usually have 20 "baby" teeth that fall out in childhood to make way for 32 permanent teeth.
Typically, once a permanent tooth falls out or is extracted, another tooth does not grow in to replace it. Other animals, such as sharks, continuously grow teeth to replace those lost.
We'll have to wait at least 10 years before we can mail-order fangs, so the Tooth Fairy will still be in a job for a little time longer.
Weird Science Factoid: Any one of a 1,000 viruses can cause the common cold. And we complain that docs haven't found a cure yet.
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
Well I doubt that this will be possible soon. Sharks also have the capacity of kidney regeneration and you don't see us doing it although this was a research subject for a long time now.Anyhow, dentistry has come quite far. The other day I was reading about some Invisalign Tucson braces that are invisible. When I was a child I wore for a couple of years some big giant metallic braces that left marks on my reputation. Wish I had this back then.