In a combination of artistic expression and cutting edge medical technology, Curtin University professor and artist Stelarc is working on a project to grow a human ear on his forearm and connect it, via microphone, to the Internet.
"People's reactions range from bemusement to bewilderment to curiosity, but you don't really expect people to understand the art component of all of this," Stelarc said.
A medical team built a scaffold of the ear under the skin, within six months blood vessels and tissue began to grow around it.
The next step is to make the ear more three-dimensional — lifting it up off the arm and growing an ear lobe from Stelarc's stem cells.
Selarc's plan is to embed a microphone into the ear and connect it to the Internet, so anyone, anywhere, anytime can listen in. He's not planning to wire in an off-line option.
"Increasingly now, people are becoming internet portals of experience ... imagine if I could hear with the ears of someone in New York, imagine if I at the same time could see with the eyes of someone in London."
Original story from the ABC.
An interview with Stelarc.
Stelarc's web page for the project.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:14AM
but it's still hardcore to grow an ear on your arm
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:20AM
It would be hardcore, if he could grow an ear on his arm and wire it to his own brain instead of Siri. But then, I doubt this jackass even has a brain to call his own.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:23AM
It's not an ear. None of the actual organs for hearing are being grown. It's a piece of deformed skin on a bit of scaffolding. They stuck a microphone in it, but had to remove it because it got infected.
Unsuccessful reconstructive plastic surgery on the wrong part of the guy's body. Whoopie doodle...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.