Okay, so the title is a bit of a lie. Again. But scientists did manage to grow eyes on the side of tadpoles' heads. Which pretty much makes them mutants. Why did they do this to the poor baby frogs? Well, it revealed an entirely new form of control over the formation of organs in the body. By altering voltage gradients, they were able to produce eyes in parts of the body that would never normally have eyes. While this may not have any clinical applications, it is an interesting find in the world of embryology.
Nanorobots were also new to the world in December. These are small (<1mm) machines that can be steered using magnets to the right place in the giant 3D maze of the circulatory system to detect disease and deliver the drugs needed. They have been in the pipeline since 2007, but development started in December last year.
In other science: 2 earth size exoplanets and 1 hospitable exoplanet in the Kepler system (Kepler-20e, 20f, and 22b respectively); engineers at MIT make a camera with 1 trillion frames per second, fast enough to capture light travelling across surfaces, and a potential vaccine for HIV goes into production.
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
November: elderly embryos and erotica
This month in stem cell news: induced pluripotent cells were created from people as old as 101, a feat which was previously thought impossible due to the ageing process of living organisms. The elderly stand to gain the most from therapies involving stem cells, so the news that they might be able to culture their own could open up new doors in regenerative medicine. Or it could confuse us even more about ageing. Stem cells were also coaxed into specialising into the dopamine producing cells that are damaged in Parkinson's disease early in the month.
On the slightly less serious side of medicine, a woman masturbated in an MRI scanner. Kayt Sukel stimulated herself to orgasm while held still in the device so that her brain activity could be monitored. It's hoped that the data might help both men and women who have problems climaxing, and also that it might offer an insight into how we feel happy.
In other science: a one molecule "car" is built; Scottish engineers start to sell their bionic legs, and the six men put into isolation 520 days previously to simulate a trip to Mars are released.
On the slightly less serious side of medicine, a woman masturbated in an MRI scanner. Kayt Sukel stimulated herself to orgasm while held still in the device so that her brain activity could be monitored. It's hoped that the data might help both men and women who have problems climaxing, and also that it might offer an insight into how we feel happy.
In other science: a one molecule "car" is built; Scottish engineers start to sell their bionic legs, and the six men put into isolation 520 days previously to simulate a trip to Mars are released.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
August: Spermatogenesis and Skin That Stops Bullets
Other than the two titular breakthroughs, late in the summer of last year, a new method of fighting cancer was being pioneered: the use of a modified smallpox virus to target cancer. The main problem with using biological agents to combat tumours is that they are destructive and can harm the healthy cells as well as the cancerous ones. However, a team has managed to change the vaccinia virus, which gets its name from being the virus used as a virus against smallpox, to only replicate in the presence of a chemical pathway found in cancer. Seven out of the eight patients on the highest dose were found to have it reproducing in their tumour only. While it is a long way from 'curing' cancer, this could be used as a carrier to deliver drugs to the affected areas in the future.
A Dutch artist used silk from engineered silkworms to create semi-bulletproof skin. By weaving the silk between the layers of human skin cells, she created a membrane that was able to withstand a .22 bullet fired at reduced speeds without breaking. The round still went 2 inches into the gel model she was using, but there is some hope that the technology could be used to create 'bioarmour' eventually.
In Japan, mice stem cells were manipulated into primordial germ cells, which can produce sperm. The sperm was normal looking and even fertilised female mice to produce healthy offspring. The aim of this project was to help infertile men, and could have very real and useful implications in today's world.
In other science: near death experiences are explained away as symptoms of oxygen starvation, it is speculated that nucleotides may have come from meteorites, where they are often found, the dark side of the moon's rough surface may be due to a collision with a second moon, and hydrogen is made from water using an enzyme.
A Dutch artist used silk from engineered silkworms to create semi-bulletproof skin. By weaving the silk between the layers of human skin cells, she created a membrane that was able to withstand a .22 bullet fired at reduced speeds without breaking. The round still went 2 inches into the gel model she was using, but there is some hope that the technology could be used to create 'bioarmour' eventually.
In Japan, mice stem cells were manipulated into primordial germ cells, which can produce sperm. The sperm was normal looking and even fertilised female mice to produce healthy offspring. The aim of this project was to help infertile men, and could have very real and useful implications in today's world.
In other science: near death experiences are explained away as symptoms of oxygen starvation, it is speculated that nucleotides may have come from meteorites, where they are often found, the dark side of the moon's rough surface may be due to a collision with a second moon, and hydrogen is made from water using an enzyme.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
May: Setbacks and the Space Shuttle
Stem cells may have been racing ahead into the futuristic world of 'self-transplants' over the first quarter of last year, but all was not as peachy as we had hoped: in an experiment researching this process on mice, many of the new cells were rejected. It is thought that this was due to the way they "became" stem cells (the cells were originally skin cells before being subjected to an engineered virus that changed them into pluripotent stem cells in a procedure first done in 2006). Sadly, the new research casts doubt on the viability of the use of stem cells in transplants, despite human neurons being made for the first time from induced pluripotent stem cells.
May was also a big month for palaeontology, with two main discoveries: the first ever evidence of biomineralisation (using mineral substances to form biological structures like shells, bones, hair and teeth), and the revelation that the sense of smell in mammals was what led to the increased development of our brains.
In other science: being overweight was found to make you 71% more likely to develop dementia, a material that uses titanium dioxide and sunlight to break down any organic pollutants on it and in the air around it, the space shuttle launches for the last time, and a paralysed man learns to walk again after electric impulses are applied to his spinal cord.
May was also a big month for palaeontology, with two main discoveries: the first ever evidence of biomineralisation (using mineral substances to form biological structures like shells, bones, hair and teeth), and the revelation that the sense of smell in mammals was what led to the increased development of our brains.
In other science: being overweight was found to make you 71% more likely to develop dementia, a material that uses titanium dioxide and sunlight to break down any organic pollutants on it and in the air around it, the space shuttle launches for the last time, and a paralysed man learns to walk again after electric impulses are applied to his spinal cord.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
April: Bumble Bees and Bloody Big Lasers
Stem Cells hit the news again in April as the first human heart was constructed using them. The Minnesota-based team created the organ using donated hearts that were stripped down to the collagen "scaffolding", then injected with stem cells, which specialised into heart cells in response to the structure they were injected into. While this technology is very far away from being able to be used in a clinical setting, this might open some doorways into stem cell transplants.
Meanwhile in Japan, scientists have given mouse stem cells a specific combination of nutrients that has stimulated them into maturing into a functional retina: something to lookout for in the future for treatment of blind people.
The early Spring months also brought us news that mobile phones may be killing bumble bees, insects on which many crops and flowering plants lean on to survive. The research caused controversy in the bee-studying world, however, and many are skeptical about it, saying that there needs to be more research into air pollution and agriculture's effects on the creatures. There was no doubt about the need for research, though: the UN has already said that humans need to change their behavior in order to help bees survive, as we are so dependent on them.
In other science: the Extreme Light Infrastructure gets given the go-ahead by the European Commission. This is a collection of 3 lasers, each designed to emit pulses of greater power than has ever been used by human civilisation in order to try and break down vacuum itself.
Meanwhile in Japan, scientists have given mouse stem cells a specific combination of nutrients that has stimulated them into maturing into a functional retina: something to lookout for in the future for treatment of blind people.
The early Spring months also brought us news that mobile phones may be killing bumble bees, insects on which many crops and flowering plants lean on to survive. The research caused controversy in the bee-studying world, however, and many are skeptical about it, saying that there needs to be more research into air pollution and agriculture's effects on the creatures. There was no doubt about the need for research, though: the UN has already said that humans need to change their behavior in order to help bees survive, as we are so dependent on them.
In other science: the Extreme Light Infrastructure gets given the go-ahead by the European Commission. This is a collection of 3 lasers, each designed to emit pulses of greater power than has ever been used by human civilisation in order to try and break down vacuum itself.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
The Science of 2011
It's a new year, this is a new blog (sort of), and science advances into the future. But before we storm off into the great unknown, armed with only our large hadron colliders and a few stethoscopes, over the next 12 days I'm going to be looking back over the last year to see what we, as a species, accomplished:
January: clairvoyance and cancer detection
The first month of the year brought us one step closer to combating two of the world's biggest killers: cancer and HIV.
Scientists in Boston discovered a method of sampling blood to discover whether there are any metastatic cancers in the body quickly and relatively painlessly, and joined up with Johnson & Johnson to bring it to the market. The "liquid biopsy" would help doctors assess the effectiveness of treatments given to patients without having to wait for CT scans, allowing them to change how they're treating the patient in time to save them.
Later in the month, T-cells were found to be able to be made resistant to HIV by inserting a gene from E.Coli that produces an enzyme, mazF, into T-cells. MazF kills cells by breaking down mRNA, which is necessary for reproduction. In order to stop the enzyme simply killing the T-cells, the team used a gene that only produced the enzyme when stimulated by the HIV virus, so that as soon as the cells were infected, they 'killed' their infectors. Which is pretty cool.
In other science: according to research, people react to erotic stimuli before they actually happen in a study investigating ESP, and there is evidence that there were colossal volcanic eruptions about 250 million years ago that would explain the latest Permain extinction (killing 95% of sea life and 70% of land based life).
January: clairvoyance and cancer detection
The first month of the year brought us one step closer to combating two of the world's biggest killers: cancer and HIV.
Scientists in Boston discovered a method of sampling blood to discover whether there are any metastatic cancers in the body quickly and relatively painlessly, and joined up with Johnson & Johnson to bring it to the market. The "liquid biopsy" would help doctors assess the effectiveness of treatments given to patients without having to wait for CT scans, allowing them to change how they're treating the patient in time to save them.
Later in the month, T-cells were found to be able to be made resistant to HIV by inserting a gene from E.Coli that produces an enzyme, mazF, into T-cells. MazF kills cells by breaking down mRNA, which is necessary for reproduction. In order to stop the enzyme simply killing the T-cells, the team used a gene that only produced the enzyme when stimulated by the HIV virus, so that as soon as the cells were infected, they 'killed' their infectors. Which is pretty cool.
In other science: according to research, people react to erotic stimuli before they actually happen in a study investigating ESP, and there is evidence that there were colossal volcanic eruptions about 250 million years ago that would explain the latest Permain extinction (killing 95% of sea life and 70% of land based life).
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