A new model provides window into how vertebrates repair themselves

With flaring red gills that jut out of a milky white body, and round, black eyes that never blink, the axolotl salamander has been trolling tropical pools for 300 million years. But only in recent years have scientists begun to appreciate the axolotl’s amazing ability to repair brain and spinal cord injuries that would leave humans and other mammals paralyzed — or worse. The question is why axolotls regenerate so well, while people, by comparison, do not. The answer is important enough for the National Institutes of Health to invest $2.4 million to find out. More …