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Why is the liver so weirdly regenerative?

576 points · 293 comments · jbotz

  1. threethirtytwo · · focus · HN ↗
    Natural selection is designed into our genes.

    Those of us with who get injuries that are life threatening, our genetics have engineered us to be culled from the gene pool. It's to protect the gene pool from other genes.

    It's like if car makers made a car with square wheels but every time the car got into an accident it would repair itself so we would keep driving it. Evolution instead blows up the car as soon as it gets into a accident, so then only round wheeled cars remain.

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