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In Search of the Impossible Machine, the Artificial Heart
- cratermoon 4y agoI wish the article had gone into the physiology of the heart more. Back when Cooley and DeBakey were building their first artificial hearts, the accepted model of the heart was that it is just a muscle, pumping blood. Today we know the heart is part of endocrine system that secretes a peptide that controls blood pressure and fluid volume in the body, and has numerous other physiological interdependencies. A purely mechanical complete heart would need to be accompanied by some serious pharmaceutical therapy to maintain health.