Scientists Demonstrate Mammalian Regeneration Through a Single Gene Deletion (opens in new tab)

So weight reduction (or the ability to eat more food and stay the same weight) and regeneration - now that does sound good!

To survive natural selection the gene must give the animal some reproductive advantage. I can understand that promoting longevity beyond the reproductive stage of one's life cycle affords no such benefit. But one still has to account for the fact that the lack of the gene appears to increase the survivability in the reproductive pahse as well. Something more must be going on.

Individual organisms don't work for "the system of evolution"'s benefit. They work for themselves.

I expect the full effects are not very dramatic, else it would have been noticed earlier, since MRL are commonly used in experiments.

I find it reassuring that this unknown thing was right on our doorstep, and it makes me wonder what other amazing discoveries are just out of reach (or even within reach...) The world is more complex than we see; all we need do is look (a lot...) - There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio - Nature's imagination is greater than your imagination

From the article, it seem to not be so much that it enables healing, but that it enables healing without scars. I expect this is crucial in some situations, but it's not clear that it can heal what wouldn't otherwise heal. Certainly, there are cosmetic applications.

Science takes as long as writing computer programs.