Using spinach leaf as scaffolding, scientists built a mini heart (2017)

Using spinach leaf as scaffolding, scientists built a mini heart (2017)(news.nationalgeographic.com)

74 points by cattlefarmer 7 years ago | 13 comments

dustfinger 7 years ago |

A better title would have been: How plant leaves are inspiring human tissue engineers.

gus_massa 7 years ago | |

It's better the subtitle: "Using the plant like scaffolding, scientists built a mini version of a working heart, which may one day aid in tissue regeneration."

I prefer a modified form: "Using spinach leaf like scaffolding, scientists built a mini version of a working heart"

dang 7 years ago | | |

Ok, we'll use that above, shortened to fit the 80 char limit. Thanks!

zachguo 7 years ago | |

It's a bit disappointing that the fractal tree was not mentioned in the article.

libertine 7 years ago | |

In the current media state the title should be: The Popeye Secret - How spinach will be the solution for heart problems!

blurbleblurble 7 years ago |

This is just magical

yohann305 7 years ago |

Very misleading title, there is no heart and no human-compatible tissue. All there is a dry spinach leaf with injected red dye. Excuse my cynicism but it’s on point.

mogadsheu 7 years ago | |

Bit of a shame and I agree (unfortunately!) in this case. Considering the funding that likely went into it, I'd hope for something more than this, like the 1000 things the researcher hopefully tried that didn't work out. Otherwise there just isn't much to show for it.

0d311 7 years ago | | |

I actually graduated from WPI at the same time as this research was going on (2017), and I remember discussing this with a few graduate students who worked in the same lab but on other research.

All the students in the lab knew the research wasn't particularly exciting but that the research space had a lot of potential. There was a lot of hype on the campus when this article (and I think a few other similar ones) came out and started circulating, but I think it made the students who actually did the research uncomfortable, because it was made clear that their advisor had hyped the research for funding purposes.

Academia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

vector_spaces 7 years ago |

The title needs a (2017).

dang 7 years ago | |

Added. Thanks!