Two historians and philosophers of science offer an essential primer
on the meaning and limits of regeneration.
In punishment for his stealing fire, the Greek gods chained Prometheus
to a rock, where every day an eagle plucked out his liver, and every
night the liver regenerated. While Prometheus may be a figure of myth,
scholars today ask whether ancient Greeks knew that the human liver
does, in fact, have a special capacity to regenerate. Some organs and
tissues can regenerate, while others cannot, and some organisms can
regenerate more fully and more easily than others. Cut an earthworm in
half, and two wiggly worms may confront you. Cut off the head of a
hydra, and it may grow a new head. Cut off a human arm, and the human
will be missing an arm. Why the differences? What are the limits of
regeneration, and how, when, and why does it occur?
In this book, historians and philosophers of science Jane Maienschein
and Kate MacCord explore biological regeneration, delving into a topic
of increasing interest in light of regenerative medicine, new tools in
developmental and neurobiology, and the urgent need to understand and
repair damage to ecosystems brought on by climate change. Looking across
scales, from germ, nerve, and stem cells to individual organisms and
complex systems, this short and accessible introduction poses a range of
deep and provocative questions: What conditions allow some damaged
microbiomes to regenerate where others do not? Why are forests following
a fire said to regenerate sometimes but not always? And in the face of
climate change in the era called the Anthropocene, can the planet
regenerate to become healthy again, or will the global ecosystem
collapse?
