Straight from the “That’s pretty cool” department, scientists in England are growing neurons from fat cells.

The Manchester technique uses stem cells - immature cells which the body naturally uses to create different tissue types. So far, the team has extracted stem cells from fat tissue taken from rats, and managed to coax the cells into becoming neurons - nerve cells - in the laboratory.

Their next step is to repeat this in stem cells from human fat, and then create a full replacement nerve, using a biodegradable “sheath” to surround it. This nerve-filled tube could then be implanted to re-join the ends of a severed nerve virtually anywhere in the body, they claim.