17 December 2010 - HIV

I can't do a full blog post today (which counts as Thursday's...sorry if my posts are late, being nocturnal messes with your days a bit), but I can do a partial one.  I'm packing up and getting ready to go out of state on Saturday, so I've missed a lot on Twitter and don't have a bunch of time to blog.

I'll be heading out Saturday, and I'm not yet sure if I'll be blogging there or not.  It kind of just depends on how much time I have and how frustrated I get trying to type out an entire post with links in my cell phone (no internet where I'm headed).  Perhaps just blurbs when something particularly interesting finds its way to my screen.  I WILL still tweet articles, though, and I'll be back in town on the 28th or 29th.



The biggest thing I've seen since last post was a story about a man who is tentatively being announced as cured of HIV.  He underwent a bone marrow transplant four years ago from someone with a genetic immunity (resistance?) to the virus.  Since then, his tissues have been tested for the virus and he's been clear so far.  The two big concerns about his case are first, that it's tough to really be sure he's done with HIV.  The virus can hide out undetected, occurring years down the road.  The second concern is that this treatment is not practical to be performed on anyone else.  Bone marrow transplants are dangerous and not approved for HIV, but if it proved anything, it proved that the gene can make a difference in an already-infected individual.  The case points to gene therapy in future research.

Here's the article at Reuters.



Heh, the comments are kind of amazing:

"If we stop paying “research scientists?” we may just find the correct cure. If you cannot do the job, get another source of income. that goes for all research institutes."

Nice!

Oh, of course!  *doh!*  If we don't PAY them, an answer will just fall into our laps!  Geniuses with expensive degrees work for free!  XD  I don't see you working OT in a lab, buddy.

Okay okay, enough with the sarcasm.  HIV has become sort of the ultimate task over the years, so it's nice to see a mark of progress amongst the reports of leads.  Suspicious comments or no.  Have a great one, and I'll see you guys sooner/later!

Later gators,

-Miss Mouse

15 December 2010 - O What a Slacker I Be (Gene Machines and Zombie-Food)

Or maybe there just hasn't been much Science in the news lately.  I'm hoping to make the switch in the near(ish) future from relying wholly on news sources for my info to actually reading *gasp* the papers.  Wouldn't that be sweet?  One of these days I'm going to have to get back to big-people college.  I miss micro.  Hell, I kind of even miss genetics.  Having a huge library of mouse papers to peruse for the cost of tuition was pretty damned enviable, for that matter.

Okay, I really should not hate on my current college (which I adore).  I'm being tested on a surprising pleasant amount of micro and pathology in my vet tech degree.  ;)

Sorry if I'm missing big stories - feel free to point them out if you don't spot them on the twitter feed or here.  I work nights now, and unfortunately, most of the big stuff gets posted during the daylight hours when I'm fast asleep!  I do my best, though.  :)  Follow me on Twitter if you don't want to mess with the tweetish widget.

Onward!



First today isn't really Science, but...for Science.  A company (surely they aren't the only one with the goal!) is pushing gene sequencers down the same path as computers took way back when - making them smaller, faster, and more affordable.  They don't seem to pack a lot of oomph yet, but for those of us interested in genomes that are not as big as our own, they seem pretty darn flashy.  They seem aimed more at...well...me, than people with their own labs, but perhaps they can take a little outta the grant budget and let more dinero go to other equipment?  Check out the link at the end of the post for more info.

Oh, and a study out of the University of South Florida took a peek at how umbilical cord blood cells (the same cells mentioned over and over again in stem cell debates) affect the hippocampal neurons of the aging brain - rat, in this case.  Normally, this is the first area of the brain to show the effects of aging, especially in cases with Alzheimer's or other cognitive age-related disorders.  However, when HUBCs were given, the neurons appeared to be both protected and stimulated to actually grow.  Just how they helped is still speculation, but for now it's exciting to note that HUBCs may be part of the answer to disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and others!

That's all you get today.  Told you there hasn't been a whole lot to write about!  At least I'm writing, right?  Right?



See ya!
-Miss Mouse



References and Links:
Big Talk, Little Machine
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BD1KN20101214
Young Cells vs. Old Brain Bits
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101214142741.htm

Testing, Testing, Uno Dos Tres!

First, I must point out if I haven't already, that the twitter feed has gone from updating once every now and then to multiple times a day. It's great stuff, even if I don't write about all of it, and I highly recommend checkin it out.

Also, I just realized the twitter widget insists on opening all links in the widget instead of in a new page. Sorry 'bout that. I'll fix it when I figure out how.

ALSO, I'm writing this on my phone to try it out...but the lack of formatting is driving me le-bonkers. Meh. Hence the testing.

So! If you haven't already, I really recommend reading both the paper and critique of the arsenic bacteria so frequently discussed lately. The blogged response and link is here: http://bit.ly/he8ECs

Sorry about this not really being an awesome post. I'm pretty zonked. There really is a ton of snazzy Science on the feed, check it. Be back soon!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

4 October 2010 - OCD, Breath-taking Treatments, and Terminal Cancer

Sunday's post is a day late, thanks to a severe case of the homeworks.  Actually, Tuesday's might not come at all due to the same extensive case, which will be culminating in four simultaneous tests.  :(  I'll be twittering my butt off now, though, since I have *gasp* my computer back!!

Today, I have a hefty dose of Vitamin Soft-Sciences.  And I'm going to spew it all over your computer screens.

Enough of that.

First up today is a study utilizing electrodes to treat otherwise unresponsive OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder.  The study, published in the October Archives of General Psychiatry, implanted electrodes in the nucleus accumbens portion of the brain (which plays a role in rewards) in 16 patients whose OCD was unaffected by other treatments.  Then the study took place in three parts.  First, active stimulation (whatever that implies) was given over an eight month period to all participants, during which they were assessed for symptoms every two weeks using a 40 point scale.  Then comes the double-blind portion, in which for one month the patients were randomly assigned treatment or having the electrodes turned off for two weeks at a time.  Much assessing took place.  Finally, a year of stimulation again with 3-month assessments.  So...did it work?  Kinda!  Nine patients responded appreciably and decreases in symptoms were pretty evident (check out the link at bottom for details).  Side effects were forgetfulness and...uh...what's the term for...er...oh, right, word-finding problems.

While we have brains on the brain, there are also new and exciting findings concerning the breath-holding symptoms of Rett Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder affecting 1 in 10,000 girls.  Breathing problems is just one of the symptoms, and can be lethal (not to mention terrifying).  Researchers found that in a mouse model with Rett Syndrome, the portion of the brain that controls breathing was actually low on a transmitter, aminobutyric acid.  So, by supplementing the aminobutyric acid and also stimulating a certain type of receptor, they successfully stopped the mouse's breathing problems, all using drugs already approved by the FDA.  Hopefully this approach will be made available quickly to help those who need it!

Last for today, because I've got quite a bit of studying to get to, new information has been found regarding terminal cancers and how to stop them in their latest stages.  Before, there didn't seem to be much you could do once the cancer had "spread."  Now, however, research is starting to show how those cancers spread and ways to target that method - specifically, something called platelet endothelial cell adhesion 1...or PECAM-1.  By creating an antibody, the anti-PECAM-1 antibody, a new approach becomes available for combatting several types of terminal cancers.  Details are in the link at the bottom of this post, but beware, it's a little full of itself.  :p

See you later!
-Miss Mouse

References and Links:
Shockingly OCD
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/569171/
Okay, you can breathe now
http://www.physorg.com/news205425548.html
It's not over til it's over (Cancer, I mean)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/568884/

30 September 2010 - Bashful Apologizing, Nifty Site, New Planet, and Teeth.

I am super bad at the blogging right now, I'm so sorry.  I keep getting ready to write, pulling up Twitter to view all the delicious Science of the day, and realizing that I can't access my feed on this computer (at least not politely).  My own lappy, she is le broken.


When she is le fixed, I will be much more psyched about writing 24-7.  In the meantime...call me majorly unreliable.  I'm writing a book, though... does that count?  :p


I CAN however, peruse the awesomely awesome major Sci news sites and pick out a few intermesting headliners for ya.  Here ye be:


First is not news at all, but this really cool site I found while trying to figure out what the disappearing "star" in the sky was.  By entering your coordinates in this site, you can find all kinds of nifty things going on when you look up (provided it isn't terribly cloudy).


Also on the topic of the world beyond our atmosphere, I'm really, really excited about this:  a potentially habitable planet has been located circling the red dwarf Gliese 581 in the Libra constellation, 20 light years away.  Actually, two new planets were found, but one in particular seems to be in the ideal position to sustain life.  It's approximately 3 or 4 times as massive as Earth, orbits the star in about 37 days, and one side is perpetually facing the star (resulting in a wide range of more or less steady temperatures).  It's called Gliese 581g, and before we found it (and another, which is apparently a less exciting planet) there were two others, c and d, that were on opposite sides of the habitable zone.  One was too hot, one was too cold, and now we have baby bear's planet.  One thing I'm not sure I agree with is the claim that the swiftness with which it was detected insinuates a higher rate of occurrence of nearby habitable planets, but I suppose I'm not very good with statistics.  One way or another, isn't that neat?


Next, research at the University of Illinois has proven it possible to reattach teeth by buttering them with stem cells.  Okay, it isn't quite that simple.  Their experiment took stem cells from the mouths of mice, marked and grew them, applied them to rat molars, and attached those where they ought to go.  While not the most delightful thing to think about, the results showed the stem cell treated teeth successfully integrated back into the mouth, whereas non-treated teeth had no such luck.  The hope is to use the method to battle tooth loss from injuries, dental problems, or even replace missing teeth with false ones in a more true manner.


Mmkay, that's it for tonight.  I've got work to do.  :)  See you soon!
-Miss Mouse


References and Links:
Leave stem cells under your pillow
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100929123630.htm
Baby Bear's Planet G
http://www.physorg.com/news204999128.html

Hey!

It's definitely been a long time, huh?  I was going crazy, I couldn't help it anymore, I had to get back to Science...so here I am!

To start us off tonight, Scientists from a group called NORDynamIC (wow.) have published a paper regarding depression and its effect on treatment for Hepatitis C (and vice versa).  The combination of treatments used for chronic HCV can sometimes result in major depression, which was tested via Major Depression Inventory tests, or MDIs.  Results showed that of 306 previously non-depressed HCV patients (determined with MDIs), 114 developed major depression over the course of treatment.  This would sometimes result in early termination of treatment and lead to lower success rates.  Also noted in the study was that a mere 1/3 of those depressed patients were correctly diagnosed for the depression in routine examinations.  No fun!  A separate U.S. study highlighted lower productivity and higher health benefit costs in chronic HCV-affected employees, as well.  To read more, check out the link at the bottom of the post.

Next, in case you haven't heard, a new topical gel has been presented as a preventative for HIV infection in women whose partners do not use protection.  The vaginal gel, called tenofovir, comes with a 39% lower chance of infection, and it turns out it also protects against herpesvirus (HSV-2) by 51%!  Apparently, HSV-2 infection can increase the chances of contracting HIV, so they're pretty impressive results!  I'm not sure I'd rely on those numbers if I didn't have to, but it's absolutely a step in the right direction!

Last for today, a new study of Down's Syndrome mice has taken our knowledge of the matter a step further.  According to the article, when an embryonic brain is developing it requires a certain balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons.  When there are more of chromosome 21's genes Olig1 and Olig2 in Down's Syndrome mice, significantly more inhibitory neurons are produced, throwing the brain's development out of balance.  When the two genes were genetically engineered to appear only in their normal quantities...voila!  Normal balance!  Very cool.  Since people have the same two genes, this study will likely have a very large impact on the understanding and future treatment of Down's Syndrome.



Hopefully I'll see you here again on Thursday and be back in the normal swing of things!  :)
-Miss Mouse

References and Links:

Sad Hepatitis C Patients

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100720165522.htm

HIV and Herpes Goo

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/07/anti-hiv-gel-also-effective-agai.html

Down's Syndrome Genes
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=2-genes-linked-to-embryonic-brain-impairment-in-downs-syndrome

I'm sorry guys

My out-of-townness is lasting longer than I'd expected and I just don't have the time online to write about news right now.  I promise to be back very soon!  Extra posts when I am!

-Miss Mouse

Out of Town - Sowwy!

Sorry guys, I'm going to be out of town this weekend, and I just don't feel well enough today to write a worthwhile post.  :\  I'll tweet some interesting headlines right now, though -check out the right hand side of the page.

Come back Tuesday for non-sick, non-out-of-town Science news!

:)

13 April 2010 - Sneaky Brain Cancer Cells, Watery Glue, Monopole Magnets, and Dance-Powered Street Lamps

Heya!

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!  I guess technically it's Wednesday, but does it still count as Tuesday if I've been up all night?  ;)

I found a very interesting article regarding glioblastoma today, a very common and deadly brain cancer.  The average patient only survives about 15 months past diagnosis, and closer research may show why.  The main tumor generally shoots off occasional cells into the surrounding tissue, which then behave very differently from the growth itself.  Those cells are not responsive to the same therapies given to the cancer patients alongside removal of the tumor, and will actually spawn new growths later on.  As a result, pretty much every patient with glioblastoma relapses after treatment.  Now that the cells have been looked at closer and this fact about their resistance revealed, new treatments to target them as well can start to be explored.

Over at the University of Utah, a lab is checking out sea creatures and their construction habits in an effort to uncover new ideas on underwater adhesives.  Specifically, they're looking at Phragmatopoma californica, called the "sandcastle worm," which builds little, compartments for itself via tiny drops of glue and sand bits.  Other labs around the country are looking at various other sorts of marine animals looking for clues to apply to the goal.  Hopefully the methods they're working toward will aid not only in ocean-stuff, but also have first aid and health applications.  Apparently they're making progress, although it is still too soon to try it out on people.  :)

Not too long ago scientists managed to actually produce a magnet with only one end -  a monopole, but it would only work in very, very cold temperatures.  Now, however, an artificial version of this "spin ice" has been created that can behave like a monopole in room temperature.  The method employs arranging nano-sized magnets into a honeycomb structure, which as a whole behaves as hoped.  Very interesting!  I believe the applications lie in quantum computing, but I'd be talking out my rear if I tried to go into more detail.

Last for today is just really neat - France has actually installed and tried out eight modules created by Sustainable Dance Floor on the streets.  They're these sections installed into the pavement that generate power when walked across.  The goal is to reduce waste in powering city public areas (like street lamps), and to change where that power comes from.  Check it out:

Photo: Robin Utrecht/EPA

That's it for today (yesterday?), but check out the twitter feed on the right for more stories I didn't include here.  :)

See you Thursday!

-Miss Mouse

References and Links:

Brain Cancer Relapses

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413095858.htm

Watery Glue

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/science/13adhesive.html

Warmish Magnets

http://www.physorg.com/news190318257.html

DDR Power

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/pavement-power-toulouse-streets

11 April 2010 - Stressed Mice, Tuned In Medicine, Drug Resistance, and Viruses Creating Energy

Hi!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  :)

I don't know if you noticed or not, but I added this nifty little Twitter feature to the right hand side of the page, just under "Labels."  This is for those of you who don't want to wait for each post to see new headlines!  I'll be tweeting links to various articles I find here and there, or retweeting as the case may be.  Just a nifty little idea.

First off, experiments in mice have found that the brains of those mice with only one copy of a gene that produces "brain-derived neurotrophic factor," or BDNF, are more affected by stress.  Apparently, stress in these mice causes the hippocampus area of the brain to shrink and the dendrites to withdraw, whereas mice with the normal two copies of the gene, and therefore a normal amount of BDNF, show no physical change in that area of the brain.  Researchers are now searching to find ways to control the amount of BDNF protein so they can determine when in development supplementation would be most effective.  Very interesting!

I know I heard about hallucinogenic testing going on here and there in the recent past, but I just found another article about it.  Scientists are gathering in California this week for a pretty big conference on the topic, particularly for use with OCD, end of life anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other psychological disorders.  I cannot say this doesn't make me pretty happy.  Check out the article link at the bottom of the post to read about various tests and reactions to psilocybin in groovy experiments.  :)

Everyone's biggest fear when it comes to antibiotics is that a superbug will become resistant to everything and we'll have nothing left to beat infections with, right?  Or is that just mine?  In any case, researchers have taken a close look at vancomycin, the "last resort" antibiotic, and actually determined the mechanism by which bacteria develop resistance to it.  It had been debated whether bacteria were tipped off to the antibiotic by noticing it directly, or noticing what it was doing to their cell walls.  It turns out the former is the case, the knowledge of which may help to develop sneakier antibiotics that could still go unnoticed.  Considering the growing number of people who are affected by resistant infections, this is pretty great progress!

Last for the weekend - researchers have devised a more direct method of splitting water molecules for use in solar powered energy...things.  Mimicking the photosynthesis process of plants, a group of scientists have utilized a harmless virus in a gel (to hold conformation) to do the splitting so that hydrogen can be stored for use at any time, rather than only when the sun is shining.  Original in its particular method, the system is still in its creation phase and needs to become more cost effective, efficient, and complete before going into effect.  An end date isn't set, but it's a valuable concept and it's nice to see that it works!

Check out the Twitter feed on the right hand side of the page to see the articles I didn't include today, but were still pretty neat.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you Tuesday!

-Miss mouse

References and Links:

Stressed Out Mice

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100410141344.htm

Psychedelic Medicine

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html

Resistance!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100411143401.htm

Virus Energy

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100411143403.htm

8 April 2010 - Omnomnomium, Things That Don't Suffocate, Volcanoes, Animal-Census, Autism

Hey!

As promised, I've got some pretty interesting news today!  :)

First, you've probably already heard about element 117, and its recent, albeit brief, appearance in a Russian cyclotron.  Researchers fired calcium ions for 150 days at a target made of berkelium, finally producing SIX atoms of 117.  They existed for less than a second before decaying.  Now...what to call it?  Some amazing suggestions (from #namefornewelement on Twitter) include:

     - Yomommium

     - Nonsensium

     - Omnomnomium

     - Newishium

     - Holycrapium

     - Internetium

     - Surprisium

     - Pandemonium

     - Fatassium

     - DeLoreum

     - Noobium

     - Steve

     - Wowthatsheavyum

     - MasterChiefium

     - Unobtainium

     - Oneseventeenium

     - Wootonium

     - Porkchopsium

That's...amazing.  :)

Next, the first multicellular organisms able to survive completely without oxygen have been found in the sediment of the Mediterranean.  These three species of Loricifera are smaller than a millimeter and, oddly enough, have no mitochondria.  In pretty much every other animal cell, mitochondria are responsible for converting nutrients to energy.  These critters, however, use structures called hydrogenosomes to convert their food to energy without ever needing to use oxygen.  Since their rather extreme environment resembles ancient Earth before widespread oxygen, it's possible these little guys might be a peek into the past.

Also, the Venus Express orbiter has found new infrared evidence that suggests Venus maaay in fact have active volcanoes.  Of course by active, they mean within the past 250,000 years for most of them.  Since Venus sports fewer scars by asteroids than expected, it had been theorized before that either a massive volcanic event covered most of the surface at once a long time ago, or ongoing volcanoes have filled in various craters here and there over time.  This finding suggests the recent, active volcanoes option, which has interesting implications for the evolution of Earth, which is similar in many ways to Venus.

Back on Earth, a group of ecologists are planning to collect information on 160,000 species of life all over the planet to form a "barometer of life."  They selected the species involved in order to best represent all ecosystems, and the plan is to update it every five years with new information from hundreds of cooperating experts and scientists.  It's basically a census, but for animals, plants, and other.  The project is hoping to provide better and more complete information to aid in gauging the "health" of the planet, determining risks to biodiversity and the environment by companies and human activities, drawing attention to the environment and its inhabitants, and directing spending.  The project itself will cost an estimated 60 million USD, and will run an annual cost of around $5 million after that.

Last today, a few articles recently came out detailing advancements in Autism research.  For those of you who know me well, you already know how big of a deal Autism spectrum disorders are for me, so this is really exciting!  First, a program at Canisius College involving 5 weeks of "summer camp" programs for children affected by high functioning autism, Asperger's, and PDD-NOS paired with parent education has shown marked improvement in the emotional behaviors of participants.  Compared with control groups, children in the program showed better social skills, emotional recognition, and conversational skills.  The program is working on improving to a level where it can be distributed to communities.  Second, it's been shown in separate experiments that oxytocin may be able to improve facial expression and emotion recognition in autistic individuals.  The study was done on a small group of ADS-affected adolescents; the experimental group was given an oxytocin nasal spray and the control group a placebo spray.  The experimental group showed clear improvement in recognizing emotions and facial expressions, but they say more testing will be needed to back up these results before we can be sure.  Lastly, methods have been discovered involving DNA tagging, or methylation, to both diagnose autism disorders via blood tests or other DNA samples (rather than brain testing), and to potentially reverse its effects.  There wasn't much to the article, but I really look forward to hearing more!  :)

That's it for today, see you this weekend!

-Miss Mouse

References and Links:

Element 117

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406181611.htm

Multicellular Organisms Sans Oxygen

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/anoxic-animals/

Volcanic Venus

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/venus-volcanism/

Barometer of Life

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/08/barometer-of-life

Autism

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100408123245.htm

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/563095/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100408105200.htm

6 April 2010 - Links

Hey!

I'm sorry, I was way too overwhelmed today to write a decent post, :( BUT I did find a bunch of great articles yesterday and today!  So, here are your links:

Armored T-Shirts

http://ow.ly/1v72R

Nanotube black holes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406125716.htm

Rising River Temperatures in the US

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406101444.htm

Early Emphysema Tests

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406101450.htm

Pyrimidines for Cancer Treatments

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406093512.htm

For Those Concerned about the Speed of Nano Progress without Health Testing (me)

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/enzyme-blood-cells-breaks-down-carbon-nanotubes-paving-way-nano-delivered-drugs

Toxoplasmosis via the Iberian Lynx

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406074641.htm

Neurons Cooperating to Get Message Heard

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/562910/?sc=swhn

Drug That Caused Birth Defects in 60s May Be Useful in Stopping Bleeding

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/notorious-drug-stanches-bleeding.html

Enjoy, and I'm sorry I couldn't write more!  I promise a real post on Thursday!  :)

-Miss Mouse

4 April 2010 - Massive Quarks, Nanoprobing, HIV, Space, and Smelly Ants

Happy Easter, if that's your thing  ;)

A lot happened between Thursday and today - it was pretty tough to pick what to write about!

First, a group of researchers have recently nailed down the mass of up and down quarks to a 1.5% certainty - a big jump from the previous 30%!  Using a simulation technique called lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD), they have narrowed down the mass of the up quark to 2.01 MeV give or take 0.14 MeV, and the down quark to 4.79 +/- 0.16 MeV.  Not only is this a pretty impressive accomplishment, it should be very helpful information for current research - especially if it can help the fellows over at the LHC.  It does still need to be challenged and replicated, but it's still pretty exciting!  For details about how they did it, check out the link at the bottom of this post.

Next, in the ever-growing world of nano, a new probe has been created capable of incorporating itself into cells without damaging them.  Mimicking transmembrane proteins, the tip of the probe is coated with two chromium layers with a gold layer in between them, to line up with the hydrophilic and hydrophobic sections of the cell's membrane.  Before, if you wanted to study the internal workings of a cell via probe, you would have to puncture a hole in it for the probe and it would die within a couple of hours.  This 600 nm long silicon probe, however, may be able to remain in place without disturbing a cell for potentially up to a week.  The developers are currently testing it for future uses including medicine delivery, observing signals within and between cells, and monitor therapy responses.

Over at the California Institute of Technology, scientists have discovered key information about a specific protein on the surface of a common variety of HIV.  Called gp120, the protein is commonly utilized in attempts to create vaccines for the virus.  Not only was the protein's structure verified in their experimentation, but they also noticed that an antibody called 21c interacting with the protein on the HIV envelope also simultaneously bound with a CD4 receptor on a T-cell - meaning it's marking the T-cell to get killed as well as the virus.  This is called polyreactivity, and it raises many questions about the use of that antibody and ones like it in the future.  Definitely not what they expected, just looking for the structure of the gp120 protein!

Now, news in space!  Blasting off Friday and docking Sunday, the Russian Soyuz carried one US and two Russian astronauts to the International Space Station for a half year visit.  Following them Monday will be 8 tons of supplies aboard the Discovery, including coolant and equipment for scientific studies.  There was a problem noted with a valve in one of the rockets, but it's been determined to not pose a major risk to the flight.  NASA has only four more flights planned.

Lastly, "odorous" house ants, Tapinoma sessile, are known to take up residence in acorns in the woods of North America and remain in small groups of 50-100 ants.  However, researchers have noticed that when these ants live in urban settings, they form gigantic colonies of more than 5 million ants and interfere with the growth of other colonies.  Scientists are going to start looking toward their genetics for an answer to why the drastic shift.



Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone had a great weekend!  See you Tuesday!
-Miss Mouse



References and Links:
Quarks
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/mass-of-the-common-quark-finally.html
Nanoprobe
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/stealthy-nanoprobe-slips-seamlessly-cell-walls
HIV Protein and Antibodies
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100402154919.htm

Space
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6310EO20100402
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6330BJ20100404
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6943278.html
Smelly Ants
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/scienceshot-country-ants-go-to-t.html

1 April 2010 - Invisible Mice, Vegetable Lambs, Gene Therapy with Nano, and Lukewarm Planet Earth

First for today...check it out!  New news on the science world's favorite test animal.

That's your prank for the day.  :)  Now, while I'm pretty nervous about browsing the headlines for serious happenings in science, here are a few that caught my eye anyway.

First, and only slightly less silly, a group of scientists are doing a broad study checking out several plants used in old medicines in Vietnam.  This has led them to the "vegetable lamb" plant, whose picture is simply too amazing not to include (credit "Wikimedia Commons"):

While this plant does NOT actually spawn baby sheep, like once thought, it does in fact contain interesting chemicals which prevent the body from breaking down bone.  Hopefully, this new information will lead to more doors opening for the many people affected by osteoporosis!

Next!  If you're familiar with gene therapy, you already know that to introduce new genes to a subject you need a vector, or something to carry those genes to where they need to go.  A virus makes a pretty good vector, but the world of nano seems to be offering better.  Scientists at Buffalo, Cleveland, and OKC have used a nanoparticle vector carrying a normal gene to replace faulty genes in mice with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that causes retinal cells to die and eventually cause blindness.  Mice injected with the carrier and gene both stopped deterioration of the retina cells AND experienced improved tissue, while mice injected with the gene alone or saline solution continued to lose vision.  In addition, there seemed to be no negative effects caused by the nanoparticle vector!

Lastly, researchers are taking global warming debates back a few billion years to attempt to explain why, if the sun was 30% dimmer 4 bya, was the planet not a completely frozen popsicle.  New findings in rock from Greenland shows CO2 content in the atmosphere of not more than 1000 ppm, which is around 3 times the current amount.  This shoots a bit of a hole in the idea that the planet stayed warm because of massive amounts of CO2 causing a greenhouse effect, but leaves a big question mark on why.  Those researchers are suggesting that perhaps reduced cloud cover (due to little of the required gases being produced by young life) in addition to greater ocean cover absorbing more sunlight could be the answer, but others argue these things could not have made enough of a difference, and that greenhouse gases still have to play a role to keep the earth thawed.  We'll see!

Thank you for reading, and I'll see you Sunday!

-Miss Mouse

References and Links:

Vegetable Lamb

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331122652.htm

Gene Therapy Helps Blind See

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331141623.htm

Lukewarm Earth 4 BYA

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/03/why-didnt-early-earth-freeze-the.html

LHC Collisions!

Success!  Mark the date!!  :D

Screencaps from the webcast of the collisions:

Press Release here:
http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2010/PR07.10E.html

30 March 2010 - Woah, go check this out!

This is a really exciting post!

First and absolutely foremost – The LHC will be attempting its first high energy collision tonight (today?), and you can follow the live updates here:
The really cool webcast:  http://webcast.cern.ch/lhcfirstphysics/
Cern’s twitter, with tweets on the process AS IT HAPPENS:  http://twitter.com/CERN

I don’t know about you guys, but I am psyched!  I would also HIGHLY recommend watching this very educational video…haha:


Another groundbreaking current event, is regarding the habit of patenting genes.  If you aren’t up on how gene patenting affects scientists and their experimentation, you really, really should be.  The argument has essentially been – can you patent something you discovered, if it already existed as a product of life?  Can you patent a test for it, or its use in research?  While credit is certainly due, it seems to me personally that it has a very crucial negative of holding back scientific progress relating to serious issues of health and life, simply by restricting use or charging obscene royalties.  Do a google or wiki search if you’d like to learn more – there are decades of information on the topic.

The current issue is with a company called Myriad Genetics.  They held a patent on genes called BRCA1 and 2, affecting breast and ovarian cancer.  Since they had merely discovered the genes that were already there, the patent was removed with the reasoning that they can’t call it theirs if it already existed.  It seems they will appeal, but let me explain the result if this ruling holds true.  Overturning patents on such genetic “property” translates to more affordable clinical testing for patients, and the possibility of further research by competing scientific companies involving genes that were once another company’s sole intellectual property.  I personally feel this is a breakthrough that will reopen doors for researchers and patients alike, but there is obviously another side to the coin.  Science has always been a competitive field, with putting your name on things being the key to gaining financial backing and opportunities.  Check out the links and blog at the bottom of the post to learn more about the trial, its results, and potential consequences.



For more Science news, I’ll see you on Thursday!
-Miss Mouse



References and Links:
Cern and LHC info
http://webcast.cern.ch/lhcfirstphysics/
http://twitter.com/CERN
Gene Patenting
http://timesonline.typepad.com/science/2010/03/the-end-of-gene-patenting.html
Genomics Law Report Blog
http://www.genomicslawreport.com/index.php/2010/03/29/breaking-district-court-rules-myriad-breast-cancer-patents-invalid/

27 March 2010 - Eggs, Nano-Healers, and Baby Stars

Hellos!

I just came across an article stating that mother birds leave “messages” for their chicks within the eggs, so that the chicks develop differently when they hatch.  The association seen here is that chicks (canaries, in this experiment) born from “generous” (well-fed?) parents beg more as adolescents, where as eggs birthed by stingier parents beg less.  This was tested by switching the eggs between two mothers of said habits/nutrition and noting the begging done by the chicks.  This makes two interesting points, imo.  First, depending on at what point in nesting the eggs were switched, the development of feeding expectations has less to do with the care of the egg and more to do with the signals within once laid.  This might not have been news to them, but it was pretty new to me.  Second, as the article points out, the begging behavior which corresponds with the two different conditions seems to be more focused on the energy necessary to be expended by the chick, in constant asking for food, and less to do with the mother’s convenience.  I wonder if this will bring about a new form of selection in birds?

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Lab have recently put forth findings by computer simulations of nanocrystalline materials “healing” damage to nuclear reactors by exposure to high radiation.  Basically, radiation hitting the materials of the reactor cause some atoms to be forced out of place, leaving a tiny hole where they used to be.  The frequent damage over time causes the material to become affected in a nasty way.  However, nanocrystalline materials have been shown, through this program in various simulations, to trap or “load” these lost particles from damage, then, and this is the surprise part, to “unload” these later on into gaps in the material near them, filling in the damage caused by radiation and effectively healing it.  Now, we were already pretty sure they took in these particles in the first place, but releasing them into nearby gaps?  That’s pretty cool.  Now, this is definitely outside my expertise, so if you’d like a better explanation of how they did it and what they found, check out the link at the bottom of this post for the report in Science Daily.  :)

Last for today, astronomers have captured beautiful and amazing photographs of a “star nursery” from 10 billion light-years away.  Normally, this would be a tough thing to accomplish.  However, very large galaxy clusters happen to be in the way, bending the light just enough for us to get a terrific view.  Apparently, the effect of those clusters makes the nursery (SMMJ2135-0102) appear 16 times larger.  Check out the photo gallery here:  Photo Galleries at PopSci

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you Tuesday with more Science!
-Miss Mouse

References and Links:
Egg Messages

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311141209.htm

Self-Healing Nuclear Reactors

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325151347.htm

Bending Light to See a Star Nursery

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/bending-gravity-researchers-capture-star-birthing-region-10-billion-light-years-away

25 March 2010 - Fingers, Sibling-Murdering Bacteria, Butterflies and Mice

So, I heard about this a day or two ago and the author was holding off on calling it a new species, but I just found new releases on the matter. Here’s the deal – a finger bone, now determined to be from a female and found in Siberia, was found a while back and contained mitochondrial DNA. It was dated to be from a girl who lived some 30-48 thousand years ago.

So we found a finger, so what? Well, even though I find it kind of amazing that it still had detectable genetic information within it, it has a bigger impact than that. Now that it’s being looked at more closely, scientists are calling her a member of a new species of humans. By what method of speciation has this been determined? Well, her mitochondrial DNA does not follow the same pattern of evolution comparable to the Homo erectus that spawned our ancestors. This finger, or rather the ancient girl once attached to it, seems to have branched off way back when and developed differently. It seems to still be not 100% definitive, and I’m guessing that naming it is pending further evidence as well. Interesting, and I look forward to learning more about this new species in the near future.

Bacteria! We all know that when resources get scarce, things go a little wonky. Paenibacillus dendritiformis gets a little weird when resources are scarce, too, but in a strange way. When on a nutrient-low plate, two colonies of P. dendritiformis grow away from each other, with a gap between the two fringed with dead cells. It turns out, in the media between the two there was a protein deemed “sibling lethal factor.” The scientists isolated the gene producing it and attempted to recreate it, but came out with a different, harmless version. So, being wickedly clever, they found that P. dendritiformis also creates subtilisin to modify the sibling lethal factor, turning it into a killer knife that tears open competing cells. Creepy…but cool. Learn more about the experiment in the links at the bottom of this post. :)

Now zoom over to Texas, where monarch butterflies are getting scarce. The epic butterflies typically migrate from Mexico to Canada, and around this time Texans start seeing them pretty frequently. This year, however, Texans have only seen them a reported total of 12 times, contrasting last year's 70 at this time of year. Issues contributing include cold weather, wet weather, and logging around their Mexican habitats leading to mudslides (that are having a pretty big effect on people, too!). To help, Texans have been asked to plant butterfly gardens, with nectar for the travelers. Apparently, they rely pretty heavily on a good breakfast. Good luck, little guys!

Last for today, some really interesting research has been turned out from the National Institute of Aging on embryonic stem cells. Until now, it’s been sort of a mystery how stem cells seem eternal, but normal cells have a lifespan. Telomeres are the sections at the ends of genetic material – they become shorter each time a cell replicates. Essentially, your typical cells have a predestined lifespan, if nothing kills them prematurely. Embryonic stem cells, however, at least in mice, can just keep chugging. The method is the interesting part.

When an ES cell deems it appropriate, it switches on coding a gene called Zscan4. This basically rebuilds those telomeres. We used to think they had a over-time recharging health bar…but they don’t. They have health potions! :) Fingers are crossed that this finding will be replicated in human ES cells, too.

That’s it for me today. See you Sunday!
- Miss Mouse

References and Links:

Finger DNA

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100324/full/464472a.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325100848.htm

Sibling Lethal Factor

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324094717.htm

Monarch Butterflies

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6928853.html

Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324142117.htm

Hi!

Here we go!

My name is Miss Mouse, and I'm a college student.  The tale of my schooling is a long one, but suffice it to say I am a microbiology major, shooting for vet school OR micro grad work, with a minor in sociology.  It's never stopped me from dabbling in other sciences at all, but micro is my core interest.  I also mess around with other biologies, astronomy, the occasional physics, and (dare I call it a science?) psychology.  Truthfully, if it's Science, I dig it.

Except for Chemistry.  Chemistry's a pain.  Interesting, though.

Okies, so this blog is going to be largely about news in Science compiled from various scientific news sites (cited as I go), so tune into me to catch the latest in capital S Science!  :D

-Miss Mouse