Will Humans Ever Regenerate Like Time Lords?
How Bioengineers are Catching Up to Gallifrey
Wouldn’t it be great if our bodies had a CTRL-Z function? Imagine being able to heal minor injuries, chronic conditions and fatal wounds in seconds. In Doctor Who, time lords can do just that. On the verge of death, they’re able to regenerate their bodies and become new versions of themselves. This trick allows time lords to live thousands of years and offers a last-minute solution in life-threatening situations. Surprisingly, the way time lords regenerate shares attributes with the way real organisms do, and our accelerating understanding of how organisms regenerate may make it possible for us to do the same.
Side Note: Regeneration means the Doctor’s whole body, their personality and their gender can and do change. For that reason, I’ll be using they-them pronouns to describe the Doctor generally, but I’ll use he-him or she-her pronouns to describe the Doctor when discussing specific points in the show’s history.
Let’s go over what exactly happens when a time lord regenerates. First, they begin to glow a bright yellow. Then, they release a large amount of energy, sometimes…
