Junk Science ? Dr. Sergio Canavero made headlines last year when he announced his plans to perform the first human head transplant. Since the announcement, the Italian neuroscientist has recruited a Chinese surgeon Dr. Xiaoping Ren, to perform the surgery with him. The first patient to undergo this procedure is a Russian man named Valery Spiridonov suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease, a genetic disease that breaks down muscles and kills nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord thus making him unable to move. Currently, he is confined to his wheelchair with the only possible movements being the ability to feed himself, type and control his wheelchair with a joystick. Spiridonov had been working with Dr. Canavero for about 2 years to get the surgery however, he has now said that he will not undergo the surgery because the doctor could not promise him what he wished for from the surgery – the ability to walk again and live a normal life. The surgery does not even guarantee that he would live. He will now seek an alternative spinal surgery to improve his life instead as he said in his statement. Chinese Volunteer Dr. Sergio Canavero has since made a statement of his own wherein he confirmed that the surgery will instead proceed with a Chinese volunteer . Despite being criticized by the scientific community on his experiment, he is hopeful of success. In a recent publication, the doctor has claimed that he managed to cut and reconnect the spinal cords of 9 mice as a proof-of-concept for the experiment. The spinal cords were attached using a special solution named polyethylene glycol (PEG). He believes that this same solution can be used to reattach a severed human head onto another body. Sources: CBS NEWS, SCIENCR
