Science & TechnologyS


Light Saber

Synthetic biology wild west days over as 194 countries agree to regulate industry

Daniel Taylor
Activist Post
Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:00 UTC
synthetic biology
The United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity recently announced a decision on the part of 194 countries to regulate synthetic biology technology.

Jim Thomas of the ETC Group stated that, "Not only do countries now have to set up the means to regulate synthetic biology, but those regulations need to be based on precaution and not harming the environment."

As more synthetically engineered products are being developed, many see a potentially dangerous impact on the environment and human health from the expanding technology.

Synthetic biology is an advanced form of genetic engineering that, according to a 2005 European Commission paper, is "...the engineering of biology... the synthesis of complex, biologically based (or inspired) systems which display functions that do not exist in nature."

Comment: For more background information about this frightening new trend in genetic modification and the reasons it needs to be regulated, read:


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Star

Planet-forming lifeline discovered in binary star system


Phys.org
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 09:51 UTC
double star system GG Tauri-A
© Credit: ESO/L. CalçadaThis artist's impression shows the dust and gas around the double star system GG Tauri-A. Researchers using ALMA have detected gas in the region between two discs in this binary system. This may allow planets to form in the gravitationally perturbed environment of the binary. Half of Sun-like stars are born in binary systems, meaning that these findings will have major consequences for the hunt for exoplanets.
Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected a streamer of dust and gas flowing from a massive outer disk toward the inner reaches of a binary star system. This never-before-seen feature may be responsible for sustaining a second, smaller disk of planet-forming material that otherwise would have disappeared long ago.

A research group led by Anne Dutrey from the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux, France, and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) observed the distribution of dust and gas in a binary star system called GG Tau-A. It was recently discovered that one of GG Tau-A's components is itself a double star. This object is only a few million years old and lies approximately 460 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

Like a wheel in a wheel, GG Tau-A contains a large, outer disk encircling the entire system as well as an inner disk around the main central star. This second inner disk has a mass roughly equivalent to that of Jupiter. Its presence has been an intriguing mystery for astronomers since it is losing material to its central star at a rate that should have depleted it long ago.

While observing these structures with ALMA, the team made the exciting discovery of gas clumps in the region between the two disks. The new observations suggest that material is being transferred from the outer to the inner disk, creating a sustaining lifeline between the two.

Comment: see also:

New study supports binary star system hypothesis

Evidence that Earth like-worlds can form in two star solar systems

Astrophysicists find wide binary stars wreak havoc in planetary systems

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Comet

Comet K1 PanSTARRS: an 'encore performance' soon?

David Dickinson
Universe Today
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:02 UTC
Comet K1 PanSTARRS
© Credit: Ken Moore, used with permission.Comet K1 PanSTARRS cruises through Hydra on October 1st. Note the twin opposing ion and dust tail.
Comet C/2012 K1 PanSTARRS, one of the most dependable comets of 2014, may put on its encore performance over the coming weeks for southern hemisphere observers.

First, the story thus far. Discovered as a +19th magnitude smudge along the borders of the constellations Ophiuchus and Hercules in mid-May 2012 courtesy of the Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) based atop Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui, astronomers soon realized that comet C/2012 K1 PanSTARRS would be something special.

The comet broke +10th magnitude to become a visible binocular object in early 2014, and wowed northern hemisphere observers as it vaulted across the constellations of Boötes and Ursa Major this past spring.

NASA’s NEOWISE mission spies K1 PanSTARRS
© Credit: NASA/JPL.NASA’s NEOWISE mission spies K1 PanSTARRS on May 20th as it slides by the galaxy NGC 3726 (blue).
The comet is approaching the inner solar system on a retrograde, highly-inclined orbit tilted 142 degrees relative the ecliptic. This bizarre orbit also assures that the comet will actually reach opposition twice in 2014 as seen from our earthly vantage point: once on April 15th, and another opposition coming right up on November 7th.

As was the case with comet Hale-Bopp way back in 1997, had C/2012 K1 PanSTARRS arrived six months earlier or later, we would've been in for a truly spectacular show, as the comet reached perihelion on August 27th, 2014, only 0.05 A.U.s (4.6 million miles or 7.7 million kilometres) outside the orbit of the Earth! But such a spectacle was not to be... back in '97, Hale-Bopp's enormous size - featuring a nucleus estimated 40 to 60 kilometres across - made for a grand show regardless... fast forward to 2014, and the tinier nucleus of K1 PanSTARRS has been relegated to binocular status only.

Image
© Credit: NASA/JPLThe position of comet K1 PanSTARRS as it passes its second opposition of the year. .
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Magnify

What happens to a dead body in the ocean?

Tanya Lewis
LiveScience
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:53 UTC
Image
© VENUS/Gail Anderson and Lynne BellDeep-sea scavengers made quick work of this pig's carcass.
When a dead body decomposes in the ocean, scientists know little about what happens to it. To find out, some researchers performed an unusual experiment that involved dropping pig carcasses into the sea and watching them on video.

Lots of human bodies end up in the sea, whether due to accidents, suicides or from being intentionally dumped there, but nobody really knows what happens to them, said Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada who led the unusual study.

Anderson and her team got a chance to find out, using the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS), an underwater laboratory that allows scientists to take video and other measurements via the Internet. With that equipment, all they needed was a body.

"Pigs are the best models for humans," Anderson told Live Science. They're roughly the right size for a human body; they have the same kind of gut bacteria, and they're relatively hairless, she said.

In the study, published Oct. 20 in the journal PLOS ONE, Anderson and her team used a remotely operated submarine to drop three pig carcasses into the Saanich Inlet, a body of salt water near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, at a depth of 330 feet (100 meters).
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Magnify

Nano ruffles in brain matter


ScienceDaily
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 13:00 UTC
Researchers have deciphered the role of nanostructures around brain cells in the central nervous system.

Image
© Nils Blumenthal and Prasad ShastriScanning electron micrograph showing a neuron on a nanorough surface making intimate contact with the surface. Surfaces has been given a false color for visualization.
An accumulation of a protein called amyloid-beta into large insoluble deposits called plaques is known to cause Alzheimer's disease. One aspect of this illness that has not received much attention is which role the structure of the brain environment plays. How do macromolecules and macromolecular assemblies, such as polysaccharides, influence cell interaction in the brain?

In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Prasad Shastri and graduate student Nils Blumenthal, in collaboration with Prof. Bernd Heimrich and Prof. Ola Hermanson, have discovered that macromolecules or support cells like astrocytes provide well-defined physical cues in the form of random roughness or ruffles that have a crucial role in promoting and maintaining healthy interactions between cells in the hippocampus.

This brain area is regarded as the brain's GPS system: It processes and stores spatial information. In Alzheimer's disease, this area degenerates. Shastri says, "It has been long thought that only biological signals have a role in health and function of brain cells, but here we show that the structure of the molecules that surround these cells may be equally important."
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Magnify

Clean smell doesn't always mean clean air


ScienceDaily
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 16:00 UTC
Scientists are taking a closer look at aerosol formation involving an organic compound -- called limonene -- that provides the pleasant smell of cleaning products and air fresheners.

Some of the same chemical reactions that occur in the atmosphere as a result of smog and ozone are actually taking place in your house while you are cleaning. A researcher in Drexel's College of Engineering is taking a closer look at these reactions, which involve an organic compound -called limonene- that provides the pleasant smell of cleaning products and air fresheners. His research will help to determine what byproducts these sweet-smelling compounds are adding to the air while we are using them to remove germs and odors.

Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) are microscopic particles created when ozone reacts with volatile organic gases such as limonene -the chemical name for the smell of oranges- or its cousin α-pinene, which is part of the smell of pine trees. Outdoors, this reaction happens all the time. It drives the formation of much of the atmospheric organic aerosol present in our environment. And in, population-dense urban areas -where enough suspended particles can be amassed- it contributes to the formation of the visible haze called smog.
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Info

Grandma was right! Arthritic joints can detect changes in weather

Nick Stockton
Wired
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 05:39 UTC
bones
© Getty Images
When I was younger, my grandma would occasionally issue solemn prophesies for rain. These declarations would come after she'd spent a few minutes rubbing her arthritic wrists. With a pensive gaze, she'd credit the prediction to her aching joints.

I was reminded of this yesterday. I'd been working on my laptop when my ankle, titanium-braced from an old break, started throbbing. I thought nothing of it until I stepped outside, and into a surprise rainstorm. I'd always been skeptical of grandma's arthritic omens, but limping down the sidewalk in the wake of my own revelation gave me reason to reconsider. Could science have an answer for why some people seem to feel the weather in their bones?
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Magnify

Study finds brain abnormalities in chronic fatigue patients


MedicalXpress
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
© Radiological Society of North America This reconstructed MR image shows the right arcuate (blue tracks and arrows) and ILFs (yellow tracks and arrows) in a single representative subject. These two tracks are overlaid on their respective track profiles. The track profile is colored according to the T score of track-based FA, showing that the maximal increase in FA is in the anterior arcuate and ILFs. The red, blue, and green spheres correspond to size and locations of increased cortical thickness from Figure 1 in the right occipital, precentral, and middle temporal regions, respectively. The green arrows also point to the middle temporal region of increased thickness.
An imaging study by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators has found distinct differences between the brains of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and those of healthy people.

The findings could lead to more definitive diagnoses of the syndrome and may also point to an underlying mechanism in the disease process.

It's not uncommon for CFS patients to face several mischaracterizations of their condition, or even suspicions of hypochondria, before receiving a diagnosis of CFS. The abnormalities identified in the study, to be published Oct. 29 in Radiology, may help to resolve those ambiguities, said lead author Michael Zeineh, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiology.

"Using a trio of sophisticated imaging methodologies, we found that CFS patients' brains diverge from those of healthy subjects in at least three distinct ways," Zeineh said.

CFS affects between 1 million and 4 million individuals in the United States and millions more worldwide. Coming up with a more precise number of cases is tough because it's difficult to actually diagnose the disease. While all CFS patients share a common symptom - crushing, unremitting fatigue that persists for six months or longer - the additional symptoms can vary from one patient to the next, and they often overlap with those of other conditions.
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Light Saber

Scientists engineer toxin-secreting stem cells to treat brain tumors


NeuroScientistNews
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:15 UTC
Image
© Credit: Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, Harvard Stem Cell InstituteEncapsulated toxin-producing stem cells (blue) help kill brain tumor cells in the tumor resection cavity (green).
Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have devised a new way to use stem cells in the fight against brain cancer. A team led by neuroscientist Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, who recently demonstrated the value of stem cells loaded with cancer-killing herpes viruses, now has a way to genetically engineer stem cells so that they can produce and secrete tumor-killing toxins.

In the AlphaMed Press journal Stem Cells, Shah's team shows how the toxin-secreting stem cells can be used to eradicate cancer cells remaining in mouse brains after their main tumor has been removed. The stem cells are placed at the site encapsulated in a biodegradable gel. This method solves the delivery issue that probably led to the failure of recent clinical trials aimed at delivering purified cancer-killing toxins into patients' brains. Shah and his team are currently pursuing FDA approval to bring this and other stem cell approaches developed by them to clinical trials.

"Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumors because the cancers aren't as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life," said Shah, who directs the Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
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Arrow Down

Google wants to flood your body with tiny magnets to search for disease

Casey Newton
The Verge
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:08 UTC
Nano Particles
© The Verge
Google's ambition to cure death is beginning to take shape in a new product from its Google X division. Andrew Conrad, the head of the company's life sciences division, today announced the details of an effort that would use nanotechnology to identify signs of disease.

The project would employ tiny magnetic nanoparticles, said to be one-thousandth the width of a red blood cell, to bind themselves to various molecules and identify them as trouble spots.

Google's nanotechnology project, which would also involve a wearable magnetic device that tracks the particles, is said to be at least five years off, according to an accompanying report in the Wall Street Journal.

The company is still figuring out how many nanoparticles are necessary to identify markers of disease, and scientists will have to develop coatings for the particles that will let them bind to targeted cells. One idea is to deliver the nanoparticles via a pill that you would swallow.
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