Much ado and controversy have surrounded the medical topic of Stem Cell research, but while politics and religion play out all possible implications and whatnot for this debatable topic, we're giving you some interesting food-for-thought. Literally.

Researcher Paul Patterson and his colleague Sylvian Bauer over at the California Institute of Technology have just found a way to help boost the regenerative abilities of the brain, which could possibly lead to more potent therapy for disabilities like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or Multiple Sclerosis.

The study involved the stimulation of the brain's neural stem cells by injecting leukemia inhibitory factor - a natural body protein - into the section of the brain where the neural adult stem cells are located. The resulting injection multiplied the neural stem cell production six-fold. "The adult brain does try to repair itself by stimulating its own neural stem cells. But obviously it's not enough. So what we're trying to do here is kick it in the pants and increase the number of neural stem cells," Patterson explained during an interview.

Adult stem cells, compared to their debate-inducing embryonic stem cell counterparts, aren't as flexible with regards to use, but are less controversial as they're harvested from fully matured organism. As an added bonus, adult stem cells also share the genetic make-up of their donor, meaning that any therapy based on them have very little chance of being rejected by the subject's body; tailor-fit medicines and therapy, to say the least.

Unfortunately for hopefuls out there, Patterson himself admits that his studies are still limited to mice, and that studies on humans are still years in the making. "My own feeling is that lots of different approaches should be tried simultaneously because we don't know which ones are going to be the most successful. So we have to push on all fronts," Patterson said.

While it's still going to take a while before we see any major breakthroughs with this particular biomedical news, the news of a way to regenerate lost portions of the brain does spark some cool ideas on a list of who could use a brain boost: Parkinson's patients, Alzheimer's patients, obsessive gamers, Paris Hilton, Jack Thompson, Dubya, Congress...Ahh, the potential is most impressive. We wish Dr. Patterson and his team luck on their research.