On the video above on the flat surface of the table are appetizing looking pieces of meat. But this is not a kebab recipe on May Day. Researcher Cornelis Vlasman shows Oscar, a biotechnological project to create an artificial modular body. The body is going like a children's designer. First, the brain module needs the module of the heart, then the lungs and kidneys are added. Modules begin to interact and work together. It gradually reaches the extremities, and the body begins to move, looking for an optimal temperature of 37 °.

As it is easy to guess from the absence of armed representatives of several interested state agencies in the room, this is a science fiction project. Presented is not real. But the materials are interesting for acquaintance with at least the quality of performance.

So, judging by Vlasman’s fictional profile on LinkedIn, the entire project took more than 11 years. But the results were worth it: a completely modular body was created, for which there are many different configurations.
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The central module of the Oscar is the four-chamber heart. It pushes the blood of the body through the blood vessels and internal organs. The blood itself for the work of the system is donated by a human researcher and stored in a refrigerator in a frozen form . (The kid is a little vampire: he needs to be fed with blood every day.) The problem so far is the lack of an immune system , but work is underway.



Videos raise questions about how the heart works and is created.


The authors succeeded in the genre of the scientific video commented by the mechanical engine voice.

This is how the limbs are created, allowing Oscar to make funny and cute movements in its senselessness .



The handles are attached to the body using a magnetic connection. Through it passes the flow of blood and a signal for the muscles.



Head to everything is the Electronic Nervous System module. He controls the activities of the body: feels the environment, breathes, makes the heart beat. The brain is a microcontroller, and writing code has presented many problems .



To create modules, the team uses a special bioprinter. The biomaterial for him is borrowed from the body of Vlasman. For this we need stem cells.



There are a lot of questions before the project, and not all of them are solved with a seal. In the current legislation there are no necessary norms. The body does not know how to think, it is only looking for the temperature it needs. It is not clear whether he is aware of himself. Unclear goals. What does Vlasman want? Offspring without female participation? Replaceability of body parts? Immortality?

How real is Oscar?

A lot of time and talent are invested in the media project: videos skillfully imitate the recordings of TV shows, video conferences in Skype and scientific video. Specifically, this implementation is a beautiful near-scientific hoax. But she did not appear from scratch.

You can make a list of news and materials that could be the inspiration for creating a fictional homunculus. Bioprinter is so close that in the DIY hub on Giktaimes there is an article “ Bioprinter do-it-yourself ”. In the future, organs can be grown on a 3D printer . Research is underway on growing limbs: there are artificial paws of rats and monkey hands . The head of the Russian programmer is going to be transplanted to another body. This is taken seriously and an approximate date is set for the operation . Experiments on mice and monkeys have already been conducted .

In the thirties of the last century, it was possible to sustain the life of a dog’s head for a short time. If you are completely out on history, even before the Frankenstein monster, medieval alchemists raved about the idea of ​​creating a living being. Paracelsus has compiled a detailed recipe for creating a homunculus. You need to put fresh human sperm in a vessel, bury for forty days in horse manure. Some “magnetisation” should be made that will help the embryo to become flesh. Then the disembodied creature needs 40 weeks to artificially feed arcanum sanguinis hominis, the secret vital force of a person - with blood. Get a baby, which later grows to the size of an adult.

Five hundred years have passed. Today, it is unlikely that anyone would think to maintain a stable near-human temperature with decaying horse manure. The strange occult recipes are gone. In the arsenal of mankind, new technologies have emerged, which previously could have been considered only magic. They are still in the bud, in the very early stages of development. But the fictional Oscar can hardly be distinguished from real medical research.

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