• Question: What is the worst thing the human body is capable of?

    Asked by Top scientist to Siana, Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara on 15 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by Jester.
    • Photo: Siana Jones

      Siana Jones answered on 15 Nov 2015:

      Oh good question:)

      I guess the worst thing the human body can do to itself is to permit abnormal cell growth resulting in malignant tumours (cancer). Treatment is available for some types of cancer and some tumours are benign which means they are harmless.

      The other scientists might be able to come up with some other examples or tell you more about the process of abnormal cell proliferation (its not my expert area). Hope this helps.

    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      Woah. Really hard question.

      In a biological sense, the body’s own immune system can start to attack itself. This autoimmunity’ is where the immune system thinks that a normal part of the body is in fact harmful, and tries to kill it. This can cause very distressing conditions such a multiple sclerosis, where the immune system attacks the brain, meaning that people lose the ability to move, breathe and eat, although they’re still alive.

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