Growing Teeth and Four More Odd Uses for Urine
Would you buy a wall clock that's powered by pee?
For those who’ve lost their teeth to accidents and decay, there may be a new way to restore your pearly whites: urine.
Scientists in China have successfully used cells found in human urine to regrow teeth. If that’s not enough of an ick factor, the scientists grew the teeth in mouse kidneys.
The researchers, led by Duanqing Pei at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou, converted cells collected from urine into what’s called pluripotent stem cells, which can become any kind of cell in the body. These stem cells were then mixed with dental tissue from mouse embryos and implanted into mouse kidneys. (Read more about stem cells.)
The entire process took just a few weeks: several days