99% Invisible Replaceable You
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Sep 16, 2025 
Mary Roach, renowned author and science communicator, takes listeners on a whimsical journey through the eccentric world of body part replacements. She shares fascinating stories about the integration of pig hearts and prosthetic limbs, illustrating the messy nature of human repair. Roach also discusses the emotional complexity of using breathing aids, alongside humorous anecdotes on hair transplantation experiments. With her unique perspective, she uncovers the intersection of technology, ethics, and the human experience in the pursuit of medical advancement.
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Evolution Outcompetes Engineering
- Designing replacement human parts competes with millions of years of evolutionary refinement and is inherently difficult.
- Mary Roach emphasizes immune response, clotting, inflammation, and infection as major integration barriers.
Why We Prefer Internal Replacements
- External machines can replace organ function but feel foreign and risky when worn or cannulated outside the body.
- People prefer integrated, organic solutions because they look and feel more "normal."
Extreme Choices For Functional Limbs
- Mary recounts a patient who chose amputation of a healthy but dysfunctional foot to gain mobility with a prosthetic.
- Another man shot his own foot to force amputation so surgeons would accept a prosthesis.
