World's First Human Head Transplant and 18 More Fascinating Images

Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero says he plans to attempt the first human head transplant later this year on 31-year-old Russian software development manager Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a debilitating muscle-wasting disease. To be more specific, the procedure is estimated to last about 36 hours, and Spiridonov’s head will be cooled to around 12° Celsius, cut from his body and connected to a donated body of a brain-dead person as quickly as possible. Canavero will be assisted by a team of 100 surgeons and other medical staff, and afterwards, Spiridonov will be kept in an artificially-induced coma for 3-4 weeks while doctors stimulate his spinal cord nerves to reconnect and start functioning. Continue reading for more fascinating images from around the web.