Beginning in the 1960s, Robert White of Cleveland, Ohio has had a mission. He wanted to transplant brains. In the 1960s, White successfully transplanted a second brain into a dog.
According to an article in the BBC, White has successfully transplanted a monkey’s head onto another monkey’s body. Apparently, the monkey was able to live “for many days.”
Others in the scientific community find White’s efforts “grotesque.” Stephen Rose of the Open University commented, “This is medical technology run completely mad and out of all proportion to what’s needed.”
White estimates that the first human head transplant is 25-50 years away. By that time, I think, research on the regeneration of spinal neurons will make any advantages of such a procedure unnecessary.
