Scifi characters are fairly adept at re-growing their limbs: Wolverine constantly recovers from amputations; Jeebs in Men in Black can get his head blasted off and have a new one in place in a few seconds with only a mild headache; and Terminator 2′s T-1000 can take repeated blows to the head and body like pebbles being dropped into a pond (provided he’s not himself dropped into molten metal). In real life, we’re not so lucky. A human being can re-grow a fingertip if its amputated above the first joint, but that’s about it… unless of course the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden, Germany has their way.

Scientists abroad are studying a rare breed of Mexican lizard, the axolotl salamander, which may hold the key to human limb regeneration. Salamanders are well known for their ability to re-grow limbs after amputation, but the axolotl has the ability to regenerate jaws, skin, organs and parts of its brain and spinal chord, and do so at a much faster rate than normal salamanders. When an axlotl is injured, its wound is quickly covered with a stem-cell like growth, out of which sprouts the replacement body part.

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