of "controlled cancer", called ablastema. The cancer is deliberately formed at the regeneration site and then converted into astructure of functional tissues. But before controlling the blastema is possible, "a detailedknowledge of the switching process by means of which the genes in the cell nucleus areselectively activated and deactivated" is needed (Stableford 90). To obtain proof that such aprocedure is possible one only needs to examine an early embryo and realize that it knowswhether to turn itself into an ostrich or a human. After learning the procedure to control andactivate such regeneration, genetic engineering will be able to conquer such ailments asParkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other crippling diseases without grafting in new tissues. Thebroader scope of this technique would allow the re-growth of lost limbs, repairing any damagedorgans internally, and the production of spare organs by growing them externally (Stableford90).Ever since biblical times the lifespan of a human being has been pegged at roughly 70years. But is this number truly finite? In order to uncover the answer, knowledge of the processof aging is needed. A common conception is that the human body contains an internal biologicalclock which continues to tick for about 70 years, then stops. An alternate "watch" analogy couldbe that the human body contains a certain type of alarm clock, and after so many years, thealarm sounds and deterioration beings. With that frame of thinking, the human body does notbegin to age until a particular switch is tripped. In essence, stopping this process would simplyinvolve a means of never allowing the switch to be tripped. W. Donner Denckla, of the RocheInstitute of Molecular Biology, proposes the alarm clock theory is true. He provides evidencefor this statement by examining the similarities between normal aging and the symptoms of ahormonal deficiency disease associated with the thyroid gland. Denckla proposes that as we geto...
