> The reason why the head can survive without the heart and other important organs is unclear. [...] We suggest that removing internal parasites is a likely function of autotomy, at least in E. atroviridis. All autotomised individuals (and autolysed ones as well) had a parasite, and after regeneration they became parasite-free.
I couldn't agree more. It's one reason why I'm such a fan boy for Feynman, Hoare, Dijkstra, and Lamport, just to name a few. They all put serious effort into making their ideas as clear as possible. My opinion is that all experts should follow their example.
I'm pretty sure this was a major theme in Stargate and other scifi series. Slugs shed their host bodies when they're no longer useful and get new ones.
This totally makes me think of Bioshock, where a genetic template from a sea slug was used for therapies that effectively produced magical abilities. I suppose the game designers were probably aware of this or similar research?
Nature never ceases to amaze.