Armadillo Leprosy Could Save Your Life

What do leprosy, aka Hansen's disease, nine-banded armadillos, and livers have in common? A stem cell trick that could help regenerate and regrow organs for disease research!

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
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[Saujas]

"Armadillos: when you want the protection of a tank but the cuteness of a rabbit."

[Rabcup]

I work in a lab which conducts liver research; I didn’t know about this. Thanks for the info!!!

[BackYardScience]

My grandfather passed away this morning due to cirrhosis of the liver. This was fascinating to watch and learn from. Thank you for posting it.

[EmilyJelassi]

Fascinating! I have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, so I’m hoping that this research will help in the future 😊

[maggielovestoads]

I really like that armadillos have been described as a “funky little mammal”

[-Slinger-]

Armadillos, pangolins and aardvarks are so cute! I wish having one of them as a pet was legal and also not a terrible idea.

[Frg_Jm]

I clicked on this hoping it’d be narrated by Hank Green and oh boy was I happy.

[duckdodgers]

You should do a 'Bizarre Beast' episode on some sort of armadillo. Maybe not the nine banded variety, but there are so many super cool armadillos in south America like the fairy armadillo, which are the cutest things ever, and are indeed a bit bizarre. And I'm not just saying that because I want to see more fun videos on armadillos, but that is part of it.

[jerff]

Sober 1 year and a few months with some liver damage…in tears watching this. The future seems a lot less bleak now. Thank you

[anyascelticcreations]

I used to hike through a place where 14% of the armadillo population was infected with leprosy. Their tail tracks left in the sand were all over. Considering I walked through that sand on a regular basis I figured it was only a matter of time before I contracted leprosy too. Thankfully I didn't. And all my digits are still intact.

[purplealice]

The liver has strange properties to begin with. If you need a liver transplant, you can get one from someone who's a good immune match, and you can get it from someone who only gives up a chunk of their healthy liver. The old one grows back just fine.

[triciajohnson]

they r so cute! esp. when they carry leaves in their front paws while walking upright on the back ones.

[AccidentalNinja]

It sounds like the bacteria is actually more symbiotic with armadillos than anything.

[jessicap]

Regeneration of the myelin sheaths could also be applied to multiple sclerosis.

[cyrilio]

Quick reminder, in the Netherlands 10x more people die from alcohol abuse than all other drugs combined. Being able to cure liver diseases is super important.

[peppermintmiso]

and i JUST re-watched hank and the drawfee crew talk about armadillhole! this is all just so fascinating knowledge

[skeleluna]

Hank I wont ever think of armadillos and leprosy again without thinking of the armadillhole

[ZeFroznne]

Schwann Cell: This isn't even my final form..
(Absolutely fantastic video! Big fan of the channel! Love the content you produce! Also: Hank, you are amazing!)

[CL-goji]

Besides the obvious "Yay, regeneration!" thing, this is interesting to me because what the bacteria are doing sounds really virus-like. I hadn´t realized that some bacteria are that good at controlling eukaryotic cells.

[joelsmith]

Kinda gets to that notion that eradicating pest species may actually rob us of potential benefits from the same species that we just haven’t discovered yet. An extension of the old saying that weeds are just the plants we haven’t figured out the uses of yet.