Matrix helps man regenerate missing finger-tip!

[zuludelta]

Interesting stuff here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7379745.stm

I'm quite skeptical that the extracellular matrix had significantly prompted the regrowth of the functional fingertip, though. I've heard of several cases where individuals have partially re-grown their fingertips (with nails and partial fingerprints to boot) even without any prompting from external growth media... in fact, one of my friends actually partially regrew the tip of his left ring finger (about three-quarters of a centimeter of bone and skin) after getting it chopped off in a machining accident... the new fingertip even had a disgustingly misshaped nail to go with it. It took a couple of years, but it happened.

[Pyroclasm]

LOL.
I saw the title and immediately thought:
<chord music>You've got the touch...You've got the power...yeah!<electric guitar>
"Use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour..."

Sorry...I'm a geek.

[Lunarman]

You just wait, soon they'll be regrowing whole limbs using reprogrammed stem cells

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

You just wait, soon they'll be regrowing whole limbs using reprogrammed stem cells

Unlikely, stem cells, at least embryonic stem cells, have proven nearly impossible to control and harness.  Adult stem cells may allow for that, but even so, it would still be nearly impossible, as doctors would actually have to manually shape every cell into an arm.  We are decades from being able to do that, if not longer.

Stimulating or tricking the body into regrowing the limb on its own, whether or not this specific case is legitimate or not, seems to me to be the best possibility.