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June 20, 2009, 3:38 am
Flag as Inappropriate Jeri  

I saw a news clip today, on how bothersome star fish are in some areas. Since they don't have really have any meat to eat, they are considered useless except as a souvenir.

As a cancer survivor, I was wondering if there has been any research done on converting star fish into a serum or antidote to help cancer survivors and other victims regenerate lost tissue. Since, star fish are well-known for their ability to regrow amputated limbs; it would be a great use of science to utilize this ability to help those of us who need it. Has anyone heard anything in this field?

I don't know, but you have a very good point. Seems to me that whatever a starfish has that allows it to regrow limbs, would be worth researching to possibly allow humans to regrow amputated limbs.

Very good post!

Whenever a point like this comes up, I think about how we (meaning humans) have made plenty of mistakes in the past thinking we knew best about how to handle something in the realm of Mother Nature, and with little to no research, made some drastic change. Only later do we realize what a horrible mistake it was.

I hope before anyone gets carried away about getting rid of starfish, someone takes the time to figure out what's causing starfish "problems" and handles that instead of coming up with a random solution.

I agree with you guys that it would also be wise to look into their regenerative properties and see what we can learn.

There is actually quite a bit of research into human limb regeneration on going. If you Google the subject quite a bit of material comes up. They study different species that are able to regenerate limbs like starfish. Too bad it has not at this point led to this capability in humans yet.

That is so cool! I would love to be in on the research on this. I haven't lost any body parts but I have friends who have. I think nature has cures for us for things that we don't even know yet.

Very interesting thread. I have heard all my life about how if a starfish loses a leg it just grows back. If we are all related somehow, from way back when; shouldn't we still have that innate ability as well? Maybe, it is there and the scientist just have to crack the code like they are doing with cloning?

I never even knew this about starfish to start off with and it makes me think of the random things I learn online, esp. late at night.

I do not like the idea of killing off any species for random reasons but I would think it helpful pending the proper precautions are used when researching.