This episode was suggested by a listener, Neal, on Facebook. If you'd like to suggest a topic,

you can do so on Facebook and Instagram at Morbid Curiosity Podcast, on Twitter, at Morbid Podcast,

and on our website, www.morbid Curiosity Podcast.com. This episode contains discussions of laboratory experimentation on animals.

If that's not something you want to hear about, this may be a good episode to skip.

Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved. Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped hundreds of people throughout the ages. I am one of

those people. My name is Hallie, and this is the Mor granted by most humans.

But for those of us that don't have health, be it physical or mental health, life becomes an unyielding struggle.

Modern medicine seeks to find ways to ease the struggle for those affected by disease and disability.

Small adjustments can make a world of difference, but some researchers are more radical,

their procedures seeming closer to the realm of science fiction. Like medical researchers, many

science fiction writers have been focused on the science of health and immortality since the beginning

of the genre. Through various paths, from transplanting the consciousness of a person into a computer,

robot, or even another person, to cloning, DNA manipulation, and other

biological pathways. Ways to preserve the mind and improve the body have fascinated both

medical researchers and writers. One of the biological pathways that went from science fiction

to real medical procedure is organ transplantation. The idea of replacing body parts has been around for thousands of years.

In 600 BCE, the idea of using skin flaps from a patient's forehead to replace missing noses

was attributed to Sushrata, an Indian physician now known as the father of plastic surgery.

It wasn't until the 16th century that

early plastic surgeons had actual success in replacing noses with autogenous skin flaps or flaps of

skin taken from the patient to replace lost skin elsewhere on the same patient. After skin,

kidneys were the next organ transplants to seriously be attempted. Despite many early

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