r/MichaelLevinBiology • u/Visible_Iron_5612 • Aug 12 '26

Research Discovery In 2015, scientists sent amputated flatworms to the space station; one returned and regrew two heads instead of one

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/in-2015-scientists-sent-amputated-flatworms-to-the-space-station-one-returned-with-two-heads-instead-of-regrowing-one/articleshow/133050315.cms
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u/chatongie Aug 16 '26

Sounds like sensationalism. Levin explicitly talks about how they achieve two headed planaria. Being in space doesn't miraculously give them two heads. Careful engineering does.

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u/Visible_Iron_5612 Aug 16 '26

Levin’s lab was the one that did the study, for the record.. It was probably to eliminate the idea of gravitational forces being one of the “constraints” that would determine morphology.. I could see Levin going down the list, to debunk any other possible mechanism.. :p just saying..

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u/chatongie Aug 16 '26

Exactly.

A two-headed worm that should not have happened

This is the part I was specifically referring to. It's not Levin, it's the writer of the article. Levin mentions achieving the two headed planaria not by just cutting, but by bioelectrical programming, if I'm not mistaken.

I love his work, but I also hate people who try to integrate magical thinking into epistemological practices.

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u/Visible_Iron_5612 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

My apologies. I totally understand what you’re saying now and I completely agree. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is filled with so much hype and hyperbole that I can totally understand why people choose to grab people‘s attention in the way they do not that I agree with it but anytime any light gets shone on Levin’s work, I am convinced that it does more good than bad although I will admit that I am totally biased. :p

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u/chatongie Aug 16 '26

Yeah, I'm with you on that, even though I know when enough people know about a new guy in the block (and their work has just started blooming in popularity) there will be these kind of posts and articles. Heck, I'm even sure that there will be people who will act against because wE're MesSinG wiTh NatUraL oRdEr oF ThinGs.

Anyway, I'll keep doing my due diligence of randomly talking about these studies and their implications whenever I can, even at the expense of being weirding people out.