This is an amazing six page fake study studying the discovery of a novel protein associated with the regenerative abilities of Wolverine. Now, superheroes don't exist, at least, not yet. Evolution takes millions of years, and for anyone to have an ability like Wolverine, it would be the talk of science. Imagine what they could do for medicine. For life!
Still, this parody study is anything but boring. The fake paper includes an abstract, description of materials and methods, diagrams and more. It even has a reference to a co-author: "Charles Xavier" from the "Department of Superhuman Biology at Xavier University". From BoingBoing:
I would also question why very-real biochemists Sigrid Alvarez, Emma Conway, and Leonard Foster would choose to work with Scott Summers, of all people, rather than Henry P. McCoy, who, I would assume, has a much longer and more impressive CV.
The "study" looked at Wolverine's healing abilities. It allows him to recover from wounds, diseases, or toxins at a much faster rate than regular humans. It is because of that he was able to bond with adamantium - the indestructible metal alloy. From the "paper":
We identified a novel protein, dubbed Howlett, that is nearly identical to the Amblox protein in axolotl which is known to be responsible for the amphibian’s limb regeneration. siRNA knockdown of the howlett and amblox genes demonstrated decreased replication in Wolverine and axolotl, respectively, and Howlett was found in all Wolverine tissues. Using massspectrometry and x-ray crystallography, we identified an S2 pocketin the Howlett protein that we postulate contributes to the 5.66-fold increased specific activity observed over Amblox in cleaving a large substrate analogue. Our findings show that Howlett is a major contributor to Wolverine’s incredible regeneration capacity, and further investigation of the signaling and regulatory mechanisms associated with this novel protein could provide outstanding advances in the field of regenerative medicine.
Super interesting. We need more "studies" on other mutants too!
[Via
BoingBoing]