DailyDirt: X-Men Among Us?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jul 12th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Every so often, you might hear about some weird genetic mutation that sounds cool. Not telepathy or the ability to bend metal (there is no spoon, after all...), but there are some medical curiosities that are a bit more mundane and practical. Here are just a few examples.

Supernumerary teeth is what they call it when someone has more than the standard set of "baby teeth" and "adult teeth" in their mouth. Presumably, folks with three sets of teeth really like the tooth fairy... [url]
A super strong German boy was born with well-defined muscles. Will this budding superhero be able to keep his identity secret as an adult? [url]
In the 1970s, it was discovered that it wasn't uncommon for children to re-grow fingertips that had been accidentally cut off. But this ability to re-grow fingertips doesn't seem to extend to other body parts -- or to anyone beyond puberty. [url]
To find more interesting stuff on health-related topics, check out what's currently in the StumbleUpon archives. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: genetic mutation, regeneration, teeth, x-men

13 Comments

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Beta (profile), 12 Jul 2011 @ 5:10pm

enough for a team, and then some
Don't forget the tetrachromats (if they exist). And Oliver Sacks writes about Tourette's patients with preternaturally fast reflexes, and agnosiacs who can always tell when you're lying. Then there's the astonishing physical strength that comes with Hansen's disease, and that genetic disease that thickens your bones until you can make an appearance in Icelandic legends...
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- Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 12 Jul 2011 @ 6:12pm
  
  Re: Tetrachromats
  Apparently they are more likely to be female than male. Apparently one woman had the (super)power to see extra shades of ... beige.
  
  I hear she�s very good as an interior decorator.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 12 Jul 2011 @ 6:10pm

Humans Are Weaklings
Somewhere along the path from our common ancestor with the other apes, our line developed a mutation which weakened our muscles considerably. This is why even chimps, for example (hardly our equal in size) are as strong as 4-10 men�it is not that they are unusually strong, it is we who are unusually weak.
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- Beta (profile), 13 Jul 2011 @ 6:35am
  
  Re: Humans Are Weaklings
  Should I ask for a citation, or is this Comic Book Biology?
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  - Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 13 Jul 2011 @ 9:54pm
    
    Re: Humans Are Weaklings
    Here�s a comic-book for you.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2011 @ 7:44pm

Interesting. Anyway, what's the tech dirt here? :)
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2011 @ 9:04pm
  
  Re:
  Tech - short for 'technology'
  
  Dirt - short for 'shut the hell up and enjoy technology articles...or just shut the hell up'
  
  While I am just teasing (I swear), I've really been enjoying all of the daily dirt articles.
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  - Michael Ho (profile), 12 Jul 2011 @ 11:56pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I've really been enjoying all of the daily dirt articles.
    
    Thanks, AC!
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Pixelation, 12 Jul 2011 @ 9:43pm

"But this ability to re-grow fingertips doesn't seem to extend to other body parts"

Luckily for John Bobbit surgery often works too.
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Dennis, 13 Jul 2011 @ 1:14am

superhuman?
I want the ability to regrow parts of me that have died, or are dying, with no pain, I've lived too long with it.
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ethorad (profile), 13 Jul 2011 @ 1:26am

supernumerary teeth
Coincidentally, I just had one of my supernumerary teeth removed yesterday.

As x-men mutations go it's not really up there with mind control or teleportation unfortunately. All it really did was sit on the outside of my normal row of teeth (back by the molars so it wasn't visible) and trap food. Had to have it removed before it caused problems for the real molars.

I've got another one on the other side of my mouth, but it hasn't come through yet. Will likely have to get that taken out when it does though (or when my dentist needs to make another payment on that nice new car the first operation bought!)
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ShellMG, 13 Jul 2011 @ 8:31am

My son had supernumaries...in the form of two extra wisdom teeth. I'd never heard of such a thing until the orthodontist showed me the x-rays.

Oh, and surgeons charge by the tooth for removal. X(
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John Nemesh, 13 Jul 2011 @ 8:43am

I'm a mutant!
Not a terribly useful mutation, but I found out after a trip to the chiropractor that I have an extra vertebrae! Fortunately, I didnt grow a tail!
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