Feature Life

Dining In

How the right amount of cellular self-cannibalism can keep you healthy

To keep things tidy, nerve cells (red) nibble away at themselves via Pac-Man–like structures (green and yellow). 

Andrey Tsvetkov, Steven Finkbeiner, UCSF

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

There’s a little Hannibal Lecter in all of us.

But while the famous cannibal dined on chunks of his enemies and friends, most people stick to gnawing on themselves at a microscopic level.