"Minnesota researchers grow rat heart in lab and start it beating"
It sounds like something out of a bad 1950's science fiction movie: scientists took a pre-born rat's heart, removed everything except the cartilaginous matrix that gave it shape, and put rat muscle cells on the framework. Time, nutrients, and electrical stimulation gave them a beating heart.
The thing only has a quarter the pumping capacity of the original, but: it pumps!
The researchers hope that - after a lot more work - they'll be able to grow replacement hearts for people.
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