# Thoughts of Superman **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916 "2004-12-09T14:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/1 "2004-12-09T14:06:50Z")
[Johns Hopkins University working to develop electronic implants to help the paralyzed.](http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/audio-video/mediaspinal.html) > [@](#): > > In a collaboration that blends biology and robotics, researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland are unraveling the circuitry in an eel’s spinal cord to help develop a microchip implant that may someday help paralyzed people walk again. > > The two-school research team’s goal is to make a device that could mimic the signals sent by the brain and coax nerve centers in the lower back into sending “walking” instructions to muscles in a patient’s legs. Okay, what I don’t understand, is that more than 10 years ago, I saw a piece on CNN about work done at Duke University on weiner dogs, which enabled them to regrow the severed ends of a spinal cord in the dogs, enabling them to walk again. I’ve heard nothing about it in the years since, even though the work was successful. Duke’s work appeared to be based on the work of [Dr. Robert Becker](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=mHu16BjzyO&isbn=0688069711&itm=1) and his research into how electromagnetic fields enable nerve tissue to grow. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/2 "2004-12-09T14:22:15Z")
You know, this thread might be interesting to a lot of of folks who won’t read it because they think it’s about a cartoon character. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/3 "2004-12-09T14:25:58Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > You know, this thread might be interesting to a lot of of folks who won’t read it because they think it’s about a cartoon character. Guess they’ve never heard of Christopher Reeve, then. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/4 "2004-12-09T16:21:30Z")
People seeing the title of this thread may think it’s about you musing about the character of Superman. Folks who might be very interested to read about implants to help the paralyzed, but aren’t fans Superman, may skip this thread. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/5 "2004-12-09T23:24:09Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > People seeing the title of this thread may think it’s about you musing about the character of Superman. > > Folks who might be very interested to read about implants to help the paralyzed, but aren’t fans Superman, may skip this thread. > > Does that make sense? And people who are intersted in it may not surf the Dope today and miss this thread when it falls off the front page. They might not key in the correct terms to find it in a search later on. You know, you could always start your own thread on the subject with a different title. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/6 "2004-12-10T00:53:55Z")
Just trying to help out, man. If you don’t see the value of making a descriptive thread title, no skin off my nose. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/7 "2004-12-10T01:51:38Z")
Yeah, imagine how many readers you’d get if the title were “Superman is to wiener dogs as microchips are to…” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/8 "2004-12-10T03:43:46Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Just trying to help out, man. If you don’t see the value of making a descriptive thread title, no skin off my nose. Well, you know, I’ve had enough threads with highly accurate titles sink like a stone, so that I’m now to the point where I pretty much don’t care. Even my sex themed thread titles seem to sink pretty quickly any more (See [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289337) for example.). ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-of-superman/278916/9 "2004-12-10T18:21:33Z")
I’d guess that an accurate title in this case might have helped this thread, probably more folks are interested in curing paralysis than in Superman. Lets see; I’ll go ahead and make new thread with the same subject, but accurate title. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5594219#post5594219](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5594219#post5594219) Don’t post to it first **Tuckerfan** , you’ll ruin the experiment!