Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, our skin tissue—and in fact many types of epithelial tissue that lines and covers the body's organs—can respond to death and destruction with a burst of regeneration. This phenomenon, known as compensatory proliferation, was first described in the 1970s in fly larvae, which regrew fully functional wings after their epithelial tissue had been severely damaged by high-dose radiation. Since then, this surprising ability has been documented in many species, including humans, yet its molecular basis has remained unclear.
