Spinal cord injuries in lab animals can now be treated with nano (microscopic) technologies that can improve healing and even reverse paralysis, according to researchers. Paralyzed mice have had full movement restored in only six weeks.

The U.S. government has spent over a billion dollars on nanotechnology research. The research is controversial, because not enough is known about side effects and what can happen if the tiny molecules escape into the environment.

However, the research results look promising. If treatment with nanotechnology proves equally successful on humans, many people who are now paralyzed could soon be able to lead normal lives again.

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Medical researchers in the United Kingdom have reportedly developed a way to create artificial nerves from fatty stem cells to replace the damaged nerves in injured limbs and organs.

That is great news for patients suffering from many kinds of nerve damage. Eventually it could lead to reversal of spinal cord damage, allowing paraplegics and quadraplegics full use of their limbs again. Meanwhile, it will be several years before the new procedures are approved for use on humans. It may be several more years before the treatments are available in most of the United States and other parts of the world.

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In recent years medical researchers discovered that small children and preteens can regrow severed fingertips (below the first joint) if the injured fingers are loosely bandaged without reconstructive surgery.

Adults, however, were out of luck. According to the Wall Street Journal there is now some hope for adults because of new medical research being done on Iraq War veterans at a military base in Texas.