This could be huge. I'd like to see it replicated as soon as possible. Some researchers may have come up with a cure for diabetes. And it's an unconventional one, out of left field:

Dr. Dosch had concluded in a 1999 paper that there were surprising similarities between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease. His interest was also piqued by the presence around the insulin-producing islets of an "enormous" number of nerves, pain neurons primarily used to signal the brain that tissue has been damaged.

Suspecting a link between the nerves and diabetes, he and Dr. Salter used an old experimental trick -- injecting capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot chili peppers, to kill the pancreatic sensory nerves in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes.

"Then we had the biggest shock of our lives," Dr. Dosch said. Almost immediately, the islets began producing insulin normally "It was a shock ? really out of left field, because nothing in the literature was saying anything about this."

The only problem I see is that this is worse than stem cells from a human sacrifice standpoint. How many people will a small band like the Hot Chili Peppers be able to cure? Just how much capsaicin can they produce, and how fast?

That's Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rand... You're showing your age again. :)

Even worse, the RHCP are made up of only 4 people, one whom is "Flea". That might as well only be 3 members, if the 4th is that small... ;)

Given the choice between being diabetic and owing ANYTHING to the RHCPs, I'll eat less ice cream, fewer french fries and less bread.

We'll just clone the RHCP as many times as necessary. Keep 'em in some kind of grow tank, though -- we don't want them at large.

How long does Heroin stay in the system and would it be transfered by such a procedure because that is going to be an issue when they tap the RHCPs (at least the singer). Perhaps that is the active ingredient and the scientists know it would be political suicide to admit it.

Old used heroin cures diabetes.

All but one female on my mothers side, and all but 2 of the males on my mothers side have diabete's.

If this works, it will be too late for them, but it might keep me and my brother and cousins going, not to mention the millions of people dealing with that disease.

On the positive side, we could turn this into a game show designed by Stephen King.

Will the cure be know as the "Californication" procedure?

They can't cure diabetes. It's a major excuse for harshing on the obese.

From the linked article: While pain scientists have been receptive to the research, immunologists have voiced skepticism at the idea of the nervous system playing such a major role in the disease.

I have observed in myself a phenomenon in which a low-blood-sugar attack resulted from an unusually heavy intake of artificial sweetener (I was young and stupid once), and I inferred from this that the sweet taste of the sweetener had somehow provoked production of too much insulin.

Now, I have no science degree (even the degree I do have, the equivalent of poli sci, is instead called "government" by the college that conferred it), but I have no trouble at all believing that the central nervous system has a role in pancreatic function. Blood chemistry alone would seem too slow-acting for what that organ has to do.