One surgeon's fascination with head transplants - Max G. Levy episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 6, 2026 · 7 MIN

One surgeon's fascination with head transplants - Max G. Levy

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Follow a neurosurgeon's attempts to perform a head transplant, and dig into the ethical and biological questions the procedure raises.--In 1970, neurosurgeon Robert White and his team carted two monkeys into an operating room to conduct an ambitious experiment. The objective was to connect the head of Monkey A to the body of Monkey B, in what he considered a whole-body transplant, with the ultimate goal of one day performing this surgery on humans. Is such a feat even medically possible? And is it ethical? Max G. Levy investigates.Lesson by Max G. Levy, directed by Anton Bogaty.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-transplant-a-head-to-another-body-max-levyDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-transplant-a-head-to-another-body-max-levy/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://www.instagram.com/anton_bogaty----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong and Bev Millar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow a neurosurgeon's attempts to perform a head transplant, and dig into the ethical and biological questions the procedure raises.--In 1970, neurosurgeon Robert White and his team carted two monkeys into an operating room to conduct an ambitious experiment. The objective was to connect the head of Monkey A to the body of Monkey B, in what he considered a whole-body transplant, with the ultimate goal of one day performing this surgery on humans. Is such a feat even medically possible? And is it ethical? Max G. Levy investigates.Lesson by Max G. Levy, directed by Anton Bogaty.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-transplant-a-head-to-another-body-max-levyDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-you-transplant-a-head-to-another-body-max-levy/digdeeperAnimator's website: https://www.instagram.com/anton_bogaty----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Brian Richards, Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carsten Tobehn, Katie Dean, Ezgi Yersu, Gerald Onyango, alessandra tasso, Doreen Reynolds-Consolati, Manognya Chakrapani, Ayala Ron, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique Cassús, Karthik Cherala, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Vignan Velivela, Ana Maria, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Devin Harris, Pavel Zalevskiy, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Ka-Hei Law, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun, SookKwan Loong and Bev Millar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This episode was published on June 6, 2026.

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Follow a neurosurgeon's attempts to perform a head transplant, and dig into the ethical and biological questions the procedure raises.--In 1970, neurosurgeon Robert White and his team carted two monkeys into an operating room to conduct an ambitious...

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