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On 30/01/2021 03:56, bill w wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.2.1611979003.24575.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">Produced by the
lungs? Who knew the lungs were endocrine glands?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans
ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><a
href="https://neurosciencenews.com/melatonin-lungs-covid-17632/"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://neurosciencenews.com/melatonin-lungs-covid-17632/</a><br>
</div>
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ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
Yes, the lungs (as well as a number of other organs) have multiple
functions. This is one of the challenges for designing a more
sensible, modular body that can easily be maintained and repaired
without the need for invasive surgery (which would be one route to
radical life-extension. Imagine a body that's more like a car, in
that you can go to a shop and swap out your lungs for new ones, and
it would just take 10 minutes with no pain, no damage and no need
for recuperation and healing afterwards).<br>
Refactoring the various systems and organs into distinct modular
units becomes quite difficult once you realise that bones don't just
provide mechanical support, lungs don't just do gas exchange,
kidneys don't just filter the blood, etc., etc. You end up having to
design new organs that our original bodies don't have.<br>
<br>
I expect there are more such multiple functions that we need to
discover.<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
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