Courtesy of Science
Sometimes advances in medical science seem like the stuff of fiction…
Scientists are one step closer to regrowing limbs like newts thanks to a new discovery in gene therapy. It was found that it may be possible to increase human regenerative abilities by turning off a specific gene. Mice lacking the gene p21 were able to regenerate their tissue with no apparent scaring and were even able to regrow parts of their limbs. Scientists do feel this research has promise to be applied to humans. Of course one problem is that turning off this gene may cause a malfunction in another gene that has been linked to cancer… so time will tell if this is viable health technology. [Guardian]
