And his drawings are still found in many neuroscience textbooks. "The model of the nerve cell that everybody still learns is the one that Cajal laid out basically in the 1890s," Swanson says.

There was, however, a tissue that seemed to belie cell theory — nervous tissue. Because of its softness and fragility, it was difficult to handle and susceptible to deterioration. But it was ...

Using a cocktail of growth factors and induction agents, the researchers transformed cells isolated from mouse fat, also known as adipose tissue, into two important nerve cell types: neurons and ...