A recent New York Academy of Sciences meeting examined the potential for regeneration in the central nervous system: "Long regarded as unyielding territory by neurobiologists and neurologists alike, the capacity of the adult central nervous system (CNS) for growth is at last being revealed, along with its limitations. Just within the past few years scientists have discovered that neurons - the information-processing cells of the brain - can multiply in the adult, an idea that was previously unheard of. Adult neurons can also form new axons, the long extensions that allow neurons to form connections and thereby communicate. With this new understanding comes the need to identify growth-promoting signals. If such signals could be controlled, it might be possible to spur the establishment of new connections between neurons and, ultimately, to treat previously incurable neurological problems."

Link: http://www.nyas.org/ebriefreps/main.asp?intSubsectionID=4312