The Molecular Basis Of Regeneration
A piece at PLoS Biology takes an educational look at the most basic basics of regenerative medicine - the cellular biochemistry that makes it all possible. "The regeneration of lost body parts and injured organs has captured the human imagination since the time of the ancient Greeks ... During the nineteenth century and for most of the twentieth century, regeneration research primarily focused on the phenomenology of regeneration and its cellular basis ... The public has recently exhibited a renewed interest in regeneration research, due in large part to stem cell research, which has provided promising avenues for the field of regenerative medicine." Regenerative medicine will have a large positive influence on quality and length of life in the decades ahead.
Link: http://www.plosbiology.org/plosonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0020232