Mar 26 2015
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.
Continue reading
Jan 20 2015
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 during aerobic respiration, oxidoreductase enzymes and metal ion-catalyzed oxidation. They are essential for several biological functions as they react with and modify the structure of genes and proteins to modulate their functions. They also act as second messenger molecules in a variety of signaling cascades including cell proliferation and differentiation.
Dec 13 2014
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 missing cells in conditions such as diabetes or Alzheimer’s. Continue reading
Dec 03 2014
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 other planets. Continue reading
Nov 05 2014
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.
Nov 05 2014
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 genome.
Importantly, researchers from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) in 2012 stated that about 80 percent of human DNA has some kind of “biochemical function” . Continue reading
Oct 15 2014
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 someday he’ll have a cure. Continue reading
Oct 08 2014
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 more than anything else!”
Sep 04 2014
