*Photo Credit - Worcester Polytechnic Institute
This absolutely blows me away. Researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute have managed to turn a spinach leaf into human heart tissue.
They used a solution to strip the leaf to it's cellulose structure and attached human heart cells. Miraculously the cells began to divide and create human tissue on the fibrous structure.
The researchers where then able to pump fluid into the tissue to simulate a working model of a human heart.
A few days later, the heart actually began to beat.
I find this to be completely incredible but the full description is far better illustrated by the researchers themselves.
You can read the full article here. There is a video at the end that shows the heart in more detail.
It really is amazing how similar plants are to people. In the article they make reference to the fact that the circulatory systems of plants are actually very similar to that of human beings. Nature is so fascinating.
Meanwhile, science on all fronts appears to be reaching incredible new limits. If you told me in the 1990s that this kind of thing would be possible in my life time I don't think I could have wrapped my head around it.
What are some amazing scientific breakthroughs that you are aware of? Comment and let us know!