Brazillian doctors are taking an experimental approach to treating burns: using tilapia skin.

Traditionally, burns are treated using pig and human tissue, which transfer collagen, a healing protein, to the victims' skin. In Fortaleza, Brazil, however, those tissues weren't readily available.

That shortage led researchers at the José Frota Institute to turn to tilapia as an alternative treatment for people in the community who suffered from burns.

Here's the story of how the team discovered this unconventional new approach.