For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pirloz in for Rachel Feldman.
This week we're doing something a little different.
We're bringing back some of our favorite episodes of the year,
starting with our 180th anniversary special.
The Scientific American celebrated the occasion by looking at times in history when science did an about face,
a complete 180 degree turn.
Moments that had scientists saying, wait, what?
Rachel takes us back in time to some of those unexpected science pivots.
This episode first aired in August.
First up,
we have a story from freelance health and life sciences journalist Diana Kwan about nerve regeneration.
For millennia,
doctors and scientists believed that any damage to the nerve cells that carry signals throughout the body must be irreversible.
While many instances of nerve damage are indeed difficult to treat,
scientists have realized over the past couple of centuries that nerves can and do regenerate.
Throughout this evolution in our understanding of nerves,
it was still widely believed that neurons within the central nervous system,
composed of the brain and spinal cord, were incapable of healing.
Now we know that even these most precious neurons can regenerate under the right conditions.
As research continues into exactly which mechanisms encourage or block neural regeneration throughout the body,