This is just plain unbelievable. A group of researchers at Harvard, in a study towards building the first artificial human heart, have created their own creature. Similar to a jellyfish, they’ve created a Medusoid – a hybrid “pseudo-organism” made from the cells of a rat’s heart and a special polymer film.

This all sounds fine and well, but when they shot some electricity through it, the Medusoid came to life and started swimming. Using a thin sheet of jellyfish-shaped polymer, the Medusoid swims just like a jellyfish in water.

This work is seen as a great leap forward by scientists to engineer and built more complex organism, the ultimate goal being able to built a heart from scratch. Project leader, Kevin Kit Parker, had the following to say about the project:

You don’t start building a bedroom set when you start woodworking; you build a little thing to hold books on your desk.

Doctors are optimistic about the project, now that evidence of recreating muscular function is beginning to emerge. The road to a human heart and other organs is still a long way off, but Parker said his laboratory is interested in stingrays next and is already making room for its newest arrival, an octopus.

[Source: Boston Globe]