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Genetically-modified mosquitoes against dengue fever

After malaria, dengue fever is the second-most widespread mosquito-borne disease in the world. It is an extremely painful – and sometimes fatal – disease that affects millions of people each year. One of the biggest problems is that there is currently no cure for dengue, nor any way to protect a population from getting sick …

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Palm Grown From 2 000-Year-Old Seed

A male date palm tree that sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed nearly a decade ago is thriving today, according to the Israeli researcher who is cultivating the historic plant, Elaine Solowey.

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Reactive oxygen species could aid in cancer treatment

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are molecules belonging to two groups: free radicals having one or more unpaired electron(s) such as superoxide (O2–), hydroxyl radical (OH●), and nitric oxide (NO●); and non-radical ROS with no unpaired electrons such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or singlet oxygen (1O2). ROS are naturally produced by the mitochondrial electron transport chain …

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A new type of stem cells could speed treatments for diseases and make them safer

Ever since Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka found a way to treat skin cells with four genes and reprogram them back to their embryonic state, scientists have been buzzing over the promise of stem cell therapies. Stem cells can be coaxed to become any of the body’s cell types, so they could potentially replace diseased or …

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Artificial enzymes created from synthetic genetic material

Scientists have made a breakthrough in the field of synthetic biology by creating, for the first time, enzymes from artificial genetic material that does not exist in nature. This exciting new work not only offers new insights into the origins of life on Earth, but also has implications for our search for extraterrestrial life on …

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Ebola: a diagnostic test in 15 minutes developed by French researchers

The test, a same as a pregnancy test format “will be used in the field without special equipment, from a drop of blood, plasma or urine,” says the Commissioner of Atomic Energy. To identify patients infected with the Ebola virus to prevent its spread is one of the challenges in the fight against the epidemic.

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Study suggests only 8.2% of human DNA is functional

Over the years, there’s been plenty of back and forth over how much of our DNA is important – for decades much of it was thought of as “junk DNA”, but geneticists have gradually come to believe that some of these seemingly pointless segments of DNA may be crucial to regulating the rest of the …

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New Stem Cell Treatment May Cure Type 1 Diabetes

In a paper published in the journal Cell, Douglas Melton announces that he has created a virtually unlimited supply of the cells that are missing in people with type 1 diabetes. By replacing these cells—and then protecting them from attack by the body’s immune system—Melton, now a professor and stem cell researcher at Harvard, says …

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Spider preys almost exclusively on mosquitoes

Paracyrba wanlessi, the Malaysian jumping spider, eats swarms of mosquitoes, the disease-transmitting insects responsible for millions of deaths a year due to malaria and other illnesses. “Many other animals, including other spiders, may sometimes eat mosquitoes,” says study co-author Fiona Cross, a biologist at the U.K.’s University of Canterbury ,“but this spider is different, because this is a species that loves mosquitoes …

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Successful Marburg Virus Treatment Offers Hope for Ebola Patients

A new treatment has successfully protected monkeys infected with Marburg virus, a disease with a course so similar to Ebola‘s that it’s impossible to clinically differentiate the two. Though the technique has not yet been tested in people, the development has researchers noting that what’s helpful for Marburg could well be helpful for Ebola, which …

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