Cool? If it works. Freaky? You betcha. A research group at Northwestern University have come up with a nanofiber and protein-based gel which, when injected into the body, self-assembles into blood vessels to heal tears or blockages, "jumpstarting" recovery.

The new technology also can be used to quickly re-grow blood vessels for trauma victims and diabetic patients, who have a hard time growing blood vessels, Stupp said. The research can be used to help solve other medical problems, including cancer, he said."If you know how to grow blood vessels, you also know how to prevent them from forming," Stupp said. "We can do the inverse and use it to starve a (cancerous) tumor."

Usual caveats apply -- three to five years before available, not yet tested on anything other than rats, etc. etc.