Eye of newt regenerates
Shakespeare’s witches may be happy to learn that one of their favorite ingredients is a renewable resource. Newts’ ability to regenerate the lenses of their eyes is not hampered by aging or repeated injury, an international team of researchers reports online July 12 in Nature Communications. Mammals, including humans, lose the ability to renew body parts with age, but newts don’t seem to have that problem. In the new study, newts regrew lenses 18 times in 16 years, with no loss of lens quality. Figuring out how newts regenerate body parts may help improve antiaging therapies for people. —Tina Hesman Saey
Shakespeare’s witches may be happy to learn that one of their favorite ingredients is a renewable resource. Newts’ ability to regenerate the lenses of their eyes is not hampered by aging or repeated injury, an international team of researchers reports online July 12 in Nature Communications. Mammals, including humans, lose the ability to renew body parts with age, but newts don’t seem to have that problem. In the new study, newts regrew lenses 18 times in 16 years, with no loss of lens quality. Figuring out how newts regenerate body parts may help improve antiaging therapies for people. —Tina Hesman Saey
