Scientist uses apples to grow human ears

June 19, 2016  17:04

A Canadian scientist has turned a common fruit into a structure to grow human ears, reports the Daily Mail.

Scientist Andrew Pelling with the University of Ottawa gave a TED talk about this experiment in February.

He revealed that he and his team had grown human tissue within the structure of an apple that was carved to resemble an ear, notes CBC News.

As he told the audience, "We took a totally innocent Macintosh apple, removed all the apple cells and DNA and then implanted human cells."

However, Pelling emphasized that their focus isn't on creating fully functioning ears themselves but providing an affordable structure on which to grow them.

While commercial models are available today, he said, they "can be really expensive and problematic, because they're sourced from proprietary products, animals or cadavers."

For the future, he revealed, "What I'm really curious about is if one day, it will be possible to repair, rebuild and augment our own bodies with stuff we make in the kitchen."

He even mentioned the possibility of using asparagus to help with blood vessel or spinal cord problems.

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