Category: Endocrinology

Tiny House Movement

April 15, 2012 By arne hendriks 0

Fish kept in small tanks remain small because they produce pheromones that suppress growth. If the same rule applies to people, the small house movement may proof to be a powerful tool to curb our physical growth. The small house movement is an intriguing architectural and social movement…

Complex Desire

February 19, 2012 By arne hendriks 0

Since growth is a function of the fundamental desire of DNA to replicate itself, it is very difficult to obstruct. Any genetic mutation that surpresses this fundamental desire can be considered a revolutionary force. The refusal for increased growth goes against the system. Unlike the…

High on Cheese

January 29, 2012 By arne hendriks 1

In the mid 19th century the Dutch were among the shortest people in Europe. 150 years later they are the tallest in the world. Perhaps not coincidentally this is precisely the period in which the Dutch consumption of cheese started its significant growth. Cheese contains…

Somatostatin Zebrafish Farm

January 18, 2012 By arne hendriks 2

One of the most promising consequences of downsizing the human species is the change in space and time it’ll take to grow food. In several research installations at Food Forward (a look into the future of food) The Incredible Shrinking Man investigates new possibilities. Like the…

Outgrowing Life (Robert Wadlow)

December 31, 2011 By arne hendriks 3

Robert Wadlow was the tallest person that ever lived. He suffered from a rare condition known as Acromegaly where the anterior hypophysis produces excess growth hormone after the epiphyseal plates close. At the time of his death at only 22 years of age Wadlow measured 272…

GH Resistance

December 26, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Stature is a highly heritable trait controlled by genetic and environmental factors. Pygmies display a remarkable and inspiring resistance to growth hormone (GH). African Pygmies represent a paradigmatic example of non-disease-related idiopathic short stature. Even if large quantities of GH are administered to them, they simply ignore…

Medicalizing Short Stature

November 17, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

The US market for growth hormone is estimated at 22 billion dollars. But it wasn’t always so big. Two growth hormone producers, Eli Lilly and Genentech worked hard to medicalize short stature and convince children and their parents that being short is a disease rather than a natural…

The Larons

November 9, 2011 By arne hendriks 2

People living in remote villages in Ecuador have a genetic mutation that may just hold the key to shrinking mankind. The villagers have a rare condition known as Laron syndrome. They are generally less than three and a half feet tall, they are proportional, and interestingly, they are…

Tall Risk

August 3, 2011 By arne hendriks 2

A study of 1,3 million women published in The Lancet Oncology finds that tall women are more likely to develop cancer. The researchers looked at the incidence of 17 cancer types, from breast cancer to leukemia, in a long-term health study across socio-economic levels. Cancer…

Of Snell Mice and Men

April 17, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Mice and men display striking genetic similarities in hormone dependent growth disturbances. If a mouse responds in a certain way to a genetic mutation, chances are that a human will respond in similar fashion. The first dwarf mouse was discovered by Nobel Prize winner George Snell in…

GHRH-R

February 11, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

It seems as if nature itself is already investigating ways to counter hypergrowth, overpopulation and overconsumption. It’s creating perfectly proportioned, but small, human beings. Pituitary dwarfism, also known as Dwarfism of Sindh, is a form of growth absense where all parts of the body grow equally slow. At…

Small & Smart

January 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

There is an understandable fear that in shrinking the human body we might lose part of our brain capacity. With a projected head size of about 6 x 4,5cm it’s an obvious concern. One of the possible solutions we’ve reported on in a previous post,…

Dwarfism of Sindh

January 18, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Donald Platt points out an interesting case of dwarfism in Pakistan. In 1994, an article appeared in a Pakistan newspaper, describing the existence of a cluster of familial dwarfism in two remote villages in the lower Indus valley.  The subjects were perfectly proportioned and in…

Uppers & Downers

December 1, 2010 By arne hendriks Off

Hormones play a key role in growth as the chemical mediators with which the growth process is stimulated, or slowed down. Most hormones are controlled by a negative feedback inhibition loop. If we are to shrink the human species manipulation of this loop may represent one…