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
Gene Therapy Helps Blind See
Lukewarm Earth 4 BYA
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