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Category: Posts

New genes arise from non-coding DNA

For most of the last 40 years, scientists thought that new genes simply arose from copies of existing genes. The old version went on doing its job, and the new copy became free to evolve novel functions. Certain genes, however, have no known relatives, and they bear no resemblance to any other gene. The mystery …

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Tickborne diseases are increasing in range and in severity

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has redrawn its maps of Lyme disease, the disease most commonly carried by ticks, to display how rapidly risk of it is rising in the northeastern US: 260 hot-spot counties now, compared to 20 years ago.

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Rat Limb Was Grown in the Lab

A team of researchers from the Ott Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital MGH grew the world’s first bioengineered rat limb. Bioartificial limbs might someday be suitable for transplantation. Bioengineering techniques have been used previously to grow individual organs like hearts and lungs. But the researchers have been able to grow a whole animal limb.

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Fungus that is killing bats may have met its match

A bacterium known to slow fruit ripening shows promise at slowing down white-nose syndrome—a lethal disease of bats. The treatment is based on a bacterium that inhibits fungal growth, and was originally studied to see if it could slow the ripening of fruits and vegetables. Researchers are in their second year of trials with little …

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RNA interference helps fight bee-killing mites

Can the world’s most important pollinators be saved? Scientists and breeders are trying to create a hardier honeybee. Most have concluded colony collapse is not a single problem, as first thought, but a lethal amalgamation of pests, pathogens, habitat loss, and toxic chemicals; varroa mites are a critical component. Most large-scale beekeepers now use pesticides …

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Self-healing concrete containing bacteria

An invention by Delft University microbiologist Hendrik Jonkers offers an innovative approach to creating more stable concrete by adding limestone-producing bacteria to the mix. This self-healing bioconcrete aims to provide a cheap and sustainable solution, markedly improving the lifespan of buildings, bridges and roads. Thinking about the how bones in the human body are healed …

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Vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually-transmitted virus infecting the skin and mucosal tissues. From a structural perspective, HPV is a highly unstable virus and impossible to mass-produce in the laboratory. Therefore, a vaccine based on live viral elements was not feasible. Instead, Ian Frazer and Jian Zhou at the University of Queensland, Australia, devised the …

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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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