Think that a human head transplant only happens in the movies? Think again. An Italian neuroscientist from the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group believes that with new technology, it might soon become a reality.

Head transplants are hardly a new concept, but with the difficulties of connecting a head to a different body’s spinal cord makes them pretty tricky.

According to Dr. Sergio Canavero, this can be done using plastic membranes called "fusogens" which were created to repair severed nerves. These fusogens will allow nerve impulses to be transmitted to the donor nervous system.

As for the procedure itself, it would begin with two bodies (obviously) that have been chilled to a certain temperature. Two surgeons would then cut their spinal cords at the same time, and the donated head would be immediately put on the recipient’s body where the fusogens will help attach it to the recipient’s spinal cord.

Canavero bases his own theories on those of Robert White, a neurosurgeon who transplanted a monkey’s head in the 1970’s. The video below is a graphic re-enactment of that head transplantation experiment:



While it's fascinating to think that humans are this close to swapping heads, it's still pretty creepy to think there might someday be Frankenpeople running around.

Via Discovery