Conjunction junction, now we know your function

LA JOLLA, CA—Among stem cell biologists there are few better-known proteins than nestin, whose very presence in an immature cell identifies it as a "stem cell," such as a neural stem cell. As helpful as this is to researchers, until now no one knew which purpose nestin serves in a cell.

In a study published in the Jan. 30, 2011, advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, Salk Institute of Biological Studies investigators led by Kuo-Fen Lee, PhD., show that nestin has reason for being in a completely different cell type—muscle tissue. There, it regulates formation of the so-called neuromuscular junction, the contact point between muscle cells and "their" motor neurons.

Knowing this not only deepens our understanding of signaling mechanisms connecting brain to muscle, but could aid future attempts to strengthen those connections in cases of neuromuscular disease or spinal cord injury.                                                      

Salk Institute - Press Releases - At last, a function at the junction-Salk researchers discover that stem cell marker regulates synapse formation

Shining a light on skin cancer

Detecting melanoma—the most lethal form of skin cancer—still relies on dermatologists eyeballing moles and deciding which ones warrant a biopsy. A new handheld device developed by scientists at the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) and licensed to Verisante Technology could provide instant information about the molecular makeup of moles.

A Quicker Way to Identify Skin Cancer - Technology Review

Being fat could save your life...that is after it causes your heart attack

Too much fat around the waist may be bad for your health, but the stem cells it contains might one day save your life. Starting this month, a new European trial aims to determine whether stem cells harvested from a person's own fat, delivered shortly after a heart attack, could prevent some of the cardiac muscle damage that results from blocked arteries.

Fat Cells for Broken Hearts - Technology Review

Bomb-sniffing plants, that's right I said plants!

Picture this at an airport, perhaps in as soon as four years: A terrorist rolls through the sliding doors of a terminal with a bomb packed into his luggage (or his underwear). All of a sudden, the leafy, verdant gardenscape ringing the gates goes white as a sheet. That’s the proteins inside the plants telling authorities that they’ve picked up the chemical trace of the guy’s arsenal.

It only took a small engineering nudge to deputize a plant’s natural, evolutionary self-defense mechanisms for threat detection. “Plants can’t run and hide,” says June Medford, the biologist who’s spent the last seven years figuring out how to deputize plants for counterterrorism. “If a bug comes by, it has to respond to it. And it already has the infrastructure to respond.”

Grow Your Own Security: Prof Breeds Bomb-Spotting Plants | Danger Room | Wired.com

The world can be powered by alternative energy, using today’s technology, in 20-40 years (If there's still a world)

Now all we need is for politicians to stop accepting enormously large quantities of moula from oil companies and we're home free!

The world can be powered by alternative energy, using today’s technology, in 20-40 years | KurzweilAI

Another reason to enjoy that morning cup of joe...no Type 2 diabetes

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2011) — Coffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why.

Now, researchers at UCLA have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee's protective effect. A protein called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) regulates the biological activity of the body's sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, which have long been thought to play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. And coffee consumption, it turns out, increases plasma levels of SHBG.

Why coffee protects against diabetes

Is 100% renewable energy realistic? Apparently so...

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research has shown that it is possible and affordable for the world to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, if there is the political will to strive for this goal.

Study claims 100 percent renewable energy possible by 2030

Natural Defense: Blood vessels battling cancer cells

MIT scientists have discovered that endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels, secrete molecules that suppress tumor growth and keep cancer cells from invading other tissues, a finding that could lead to a new way to treat cancer.

Blood-vessel cells can combat aggressive tumors: MIT scientists | KurzweilAI

One word of advice...PLASTICS

Later this year, Hewlett-Packard researchers say, they expect to deliver to the U.S. Army a working prototype of what they're calling a "Dick Tracy wristwatch" - a lightweight, wearable device that soldiers in the field can use to view digital maps and other data on a flexible plastic screen that won't shatter or crack like glass.

FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS:

-Advantages: Flexible plastic displays can be thinner, lighter and more durable than glass, which can lower manufacturing costs, increase product life and make new designs possible.

-Applications: First will likely be smart phones, tablets and notebook computers. It could eventually be used in clothing, wall displays and other products that can be curved or rolled.

-Challenges: Requires new manufacturing processes and transistor materials. Hewlett-Packard is working on a method for imprinting and etching spools of plastic film; others are working with sheets of plastic temporarily bonded to glass.

Flexible screens expected to inspire a host of new devices

What's the 'carbon footprint' of a pair of jeans?

Companies are developing a standard measure for products' carbon emissions in hopes of simplifying decisions for consumers.

Trying to Come Up with Green Labels that Matter - Technology Review

Duct tapes replacement as a fix-all...UV light

A new polymer material that can repeatedly heal itself at room temperature when exposed to ultraviolet light presents the tantalizing possibility of products that can repair themselves when damaged. Possibilities include self-healing medical implants, cars, or even airplane parts.

The Healing Power of Light - Technology Review

Getting fat by going to the gym

TIME article discussing the adverse effects of exercise. Why it can lead to weight-gain instead of weight-loss.

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin - TIME

Ever wonder what animals were saying?

http://www.wimp.com/animalvoiceovers/

Don't swat that pesky hornet... study it!

As every middle-school child knows, in the process of photosynthesis, plants take the sun's energy and convert it to electrical energy. Now a Tel Aviv University team has demonstrated how a member of the animal kingdom, the Oriental hornet, takes the sun's energy and converts it into electric power -- in the brown and yellow parts of its body -- as well.

In the course of their research, the Tel Aviv University team also found that the yellow and brown stripes on the hornet abdomen enable a photo-voltaic effect: the brown and yellow stripes on the hornet abdomen can absorb solar radiation, and the yellow pigment transforms that into electric power.

Physicists discover how the outer shell of a hornet can harvest solar power

In the Sahara desert, sand + sun = solar power

The Sahara Solar Breeder Project (a joint project by universities in Algeria and Japan) aims to begin by building a silicon manufacturing plant in the desert to transform silica in the sand into silicon of sufficiently high quality for use in solar panels. Solar power plants will be constructed using the solar panels, and some of the electricity generated will supply the energy needed to build more silicon plants to produce more solar panels, to produce more electricity...



Image credit: Diginfo TV

Sahara desert project aims to power half the world by 2050

Shh... Listen...Can you hear that? It's the sound of pain-free disease diagnosis

A new breakthrough in imaging technology using a combination of light and sound will allow health care providers to see microscopic details inside the body. Access to this level of detail potentially eliminates the need for some invasive biopsies, but it also has the potential to help health care providers make diagnoses earlier than ever before -- even before symptoms arise.

Unlike common ultrasound techniques that send in a sound wave and "listen" for the echo, PAT (photoacoustic tomography) sends in a light beam that excites and warms certain proteins, such as the hemoglobin in red blood cells. The minutely heated proteins emit a sound wave that is then detected by the ultrasound transducer.

Medical imaging breakthrough uses light and sound to see microscopic details inside our bodies

Look deep into my eyes...

Lenses that monitor eye health are on the way, and in-eye 3D image displays are being developed too – welcome to the world of augmented vision

Smart contact lenses for health and head-up displays - tech - 10 January 2011 - New Scientist

‘Convergence’ better than 'Divergence' in scientific research

“Convergence is a broad rethinking of how all scientific research can be conducted, so that we capitalize on a range of knowledge bases, from microbiology to computer science to engineering design,” MIT Institute Professor and Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp, one of the report’s authors, told the AAAS forum.

“It entails collaboration among research groups but, more deeply, the integration of disciplinary approaches that were originally viewed as separate and distinct. This merging of technologies, processes and devices into a unified whole will create new pathways and opportunities for scientific and technological advancement.”

Sharp and the other MIT authors say that convergence offers the potential for a “Third Revolution” in biomedicine that may be as profound as the two life-science revolutions that preceded it: the breakthroughs accompanying the development of molecular and cellular biology, and the sequencing of the human genome, which has made it possible to identify the genetic foundations of many diseases.

‘Convergence’ may lead to revolutionary advances in biomedicine, other sciences | KurzweilAI

Killing tumors with micelles (That's 'my-cells' not 'your-cells')

A new nanodelivery system is able to sneak cancer treatments past the defenses of drug-resistant tumor cells—offering hope to many cancer patients who benefit little from existing drug treatments.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo designed small soapy clusters of molecules, called micelles, to carry drugs into tumor cells and release their cargo inside. The molecules harness the cell's internal transport system to get close to their target—the cell's DNA.

Nanocarriers Come Through - Technology Review

Genetic modification of microbes...there's an app for that

Genetically modified microbes could perform many useful jobs, from making biofuels and drugs, to cleaning up toxic waste. But designing the complex biochemical pathways inside such microbes is a time-consuming process of trial and error.

Christopher Voigt, an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, hopes to change that with software that automates the creation of "genetic circuits" in microbes. These circuits are the pathways of genes, proteins, and other biomolecules that the cells use to perform a particular task, such as breaking down sugar and turning it into fuel. Voigt and colleagues have so far made basic circuit components in E. coli. They are working with the large California biotechnology company Life Technologies to develop software that would let bioengineers design complete genetic circuits more easily.

Designing a microbe for a particular task would then be much like writing a new computer program, says Voigt. Just as programmers do not have to think about how electrons move through the gates in an integrated circuit, he says, biological engineers may eventually be able to design circuits for genes, proteins, and other biomolecules at a level of abstraction. "If we apply computational processes to things that bacteria can already do, we can get complete control over making spider silk, or drugs, or other chemicals," he says.

Software for Programming Microbes - Technology Review

Screw plastic, I want my joints au natural

University of Missouri and Columbia University researchers have found a way to create biological joints in animals, and they believe biological joint replacements for humans, using a patient’s own cells, aren’t far away.

Biological joints could replace artificial joints | KurzweilAI

Streamlining the delivery of vaccine from the lab to the needy

Nicaragua is the first developing country to start immunising children with a new pneumonia vaccine this month (12 December), the same year the vaccine was released in the United States. This is the first vaccine purchased by the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) mechanism, launched in June 2009, which brings donors and pharmaceutical companies together to speed up access to new vaccines in the developing world.

Pneumonia vaccine gets quick launch in Nicaragua - AlertNet