Scientists have just discovered a new human organ which has wide implications
For all who are interested in human anatomy, most of us may have thought that by 2018 all human organs which exist have been discovered. Apparently we were all wrong and new visualization techniques have revealed a previously missed organ in the human body called the interstitium.
In the article scientists give an explanation for what they think this new organ does:
This series of spaces, supported by a meshwork of strong (collagen) and flexible (elastin) connective tissue proteins, may act like shock absorbers that keep tissues from tearing as organs, muscles, and vessels squeeze, pump, and pulse as part of daily function.
Importantly, the finding that this layer is a highway of moving fluid may explain why cancer that invades it becomes much more likely to spread. Draining into the lymphatic system, the newfound network is the source of lymph, the fluid vital to the functioning of immune cells that generate inflammation.
In addition this organ has wide spread implications because it represents a transportation system in the body (like veins, arteries, etc). Fluids are moved through this layer and this has implications for immune function for example and for inflammation. How did they discover this? Technological advances allowed scientists to look at the human body in a brand new way. This new perspective of the human body allowed for the discovery of the interstitium although hints that something could exist was seen previously.
Artificial intelligence being decentralized could help push science (and medicine) further. For this reason I'm aggressively for decentralized AI specifically as a means of saving my own life (I'd like to work toward curing diseases I'm likely to get before they develop). Decentralized AI would allow everyone to participate in scientific discovery on some level and this participation could be financially rewarding to the participants (using game theory and mechanism design to facilitate science). In order to achieve this level we will require privacy so that secure multi party computation can be private (and for this reason I'm a big supporter of Enigma) but we also need machine intelligence to help guide research and discussion (which is why I'm a big supporter of Tauchain). Of course we have no way to know which technology will be first to decentralize AI and create a collaborative atmosphere for scientific discovery but it's something to support in my opinion.
References
Petros C. Benias, Rebecca G. Wells, Bridget Sackey-Aboagye, Heather Klavan, Jason Reidy, Darren Buonocore, Markus Miranda, Susan Kornacki, Michael Wayne, David L. Carr-Locke, Neil D. Theise. Structure and Distribution of an Unrecognized Interstitium in Human Tissues. Scientific Reports, 2018; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23062-6
Web:
Hmmm. I do not what to think of this "discovery", but as a pathologist and former anatomist (and neuroscientist) I can tell you that the interstitium is a known anatomical structure in every organ (even in brain), but to single it out as a separate organ is in my opinion not warranted. From a scientific and diagnostic point of view it could perhaps lead to more focus and more grants coming into reasearch on the field of connective tissues in diseases. "Finding" new organs is popular these days, and recently the mesentery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesentery) was singled out as a separate organ.
Believed it, then thought it was an April 1st hoax, then checked the date of the source and it is from 27th of March.
If it is a hoax, shame on scientificamerican.
This post has received a $100.00 % upvote from @siditech thanks to: @stimialiti.
Here's a banana!
My neighbor discovered a new organ in his wife when he came home early. They're getting divorced. LOL
Link not working. However you have linked the article in the end but for a reader its a bit distracting.
@adisrivastav that was hilarious. Lets start a funny trail on the same. Here is my input: Don't tell my doctor she keeps finding parts of my body to remove.
Cant't do it. I am really worried. I am thinking about my sister and how hard she studied for her A & P class. Now, she has to learn one more thing .
Also this is probably where herpes lives. I m fucked up !
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The interstitium has been around for ages. It's functions have been rather extensively documented. Deciding to call it an organ now, does not change this.
Maybe it is finally being recognized as an organ, but Fascial health has been recognized for hundreds of years! Yay, science is starting to spread the knowledge of this awesome organ!