The practice of cloning should not be regarded without scepticism, said Dr Roel Veerkamp, researcher at the Animal Sciences Group (ASG) of Wageningen University and Research Centre.
"Before a clone is made of a good bull three years have passed," Veerkamp said.
"Using the conventional route, that period of time would yield better bulls than the original one that would be cloned. In addition, cloning is expensive. Genetic improvement is lost when old clones are being used instead of other bulls."
Science & Technology
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| ©AP |
These puppies are really sweet-looking, aren't they? According to the South Korean Customs Service, the seven Labs you see here are all very good-natured dogs, highly trainable, and exceptionally good at sniffing out drugs. They should be; they've been cloned from Korea's best drug sniffing dog.
Rome -- The world's first cloned horse Prometea has given birth to a foal in Italy's northern city Cremona, Italian News Agency ANSA reported Tuesday.
Italian animal-cloning pioneer Cesare Galli, who created the foal's mother Prometea in 2003, said both parent and child were doing well, according to ANSA.
Italian animal-cloning pioneer Cesare Galli, who created the foal's mother Prometea in 2003, said both parent and child were doing well, according to ANSA.
Canada is preparing to launch the first space mission ever to search for asteroids between Earth and the sun - the type of asteroid most likely to slam into our planet.
Neandertals had big mouths that they were able to open unusually wide, new research has determined.
A recent study found that a combination of facial structure, forward-positioned molars, and an unusually large gap between the vertical parts of the back of the jaw allowed Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals) to gape widely.
Modern humans and our direct ancestors don't have these traits, the researchers note.
But the team was unable to measure exactly how far Neandertals could open their mouths.
"This ability is connected to the length of the muscle fibers, which, of course, we don't have," said study co-author Yoel Rak, a professor of anatomy at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine.
A recent study found that a combination of facial structure, forward-positioned molars, and an unusually large gap between the vertical parts of the back of the jaw allowed Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals) to gape widely.
Modern humans and our direct ancestors don't have these traits, the researchers note.
But the team was unable to measure exactly how far Neandertals could open their mouths.
"This ability is connected to the length of the muscle fibers, which, of course, we don't have," said study co-author Yoel Rak, a professor of anatomy at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine.
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| ©Yoel Rak |
| A Neandertal skull found in the Lower Galilee region of Israel displays a wide gap between the vertical part of the jaw and the wisdom teeth.
This gap, combined with other unique facial structures, allowed Neandertals to open their mouths very wide, although researchers are still not sure why they had this ability. |
This release is available in Spanish.
A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this longevity. The research team, directed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona professor Adolfo Díez Pérez, pointed out a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity as the reasons for his excellent health.
The research team studied the bone mass and analysed the genetics of a man with enviable health who at the time of the study was 113 years old. The research was carried out with four other members of his family: a 101-year-old brother, two daughters aged 81 and 77, and a nephew aged 85, all of them born and still living in a small town of the island of Menorca. The research findings were recently published in the Journal of Gerontology and reported that the man's bones were in excellent conditions: his bone mass was normal, there were no anomalous curvatures and he had never sustained a fracture.
A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this longevity. The research team, directed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona professor Adolfo Díez Pérez, pointed out a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity as the reasons for his excellent health.
The research team studied the bone mass and analysed the genetics of a man with enviable health who at the time of the study was 113 years old. The research was carried out with four other members of his family: a 101-year-old brother, two daughters aged 81 and 77, and a nephew aged 85, all of them born and still living in a small town of the island of Menorca. The research findings were recently published in the Journal of Gerontology and reported that the man's bones were in excellent conditions: his bone mass was normal, there were no anomalous curvatures and he had never sustained a fracture.
The finding made in the fruit fly may provide clues to address problems such as the proliferation of malignant cells and tumour growth in humans.
A study performed by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) on the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, unveils how distinct signaling pathways operate between neighboring cells in order to activate the cell proliferation machinery that results in the organized growth of the fly wing. The signaling pathways involved in this process are also conserved in humans, and when altered in diverse tissues give rise to the appearance of different types of cancer, including cancer of the colon and skin, and leukemia. The study has been undertaken in the Cell and Development Biology Laboratory headed by ICREA Research Professor, Marco Milán, at IRB Barcelona, and has been released in and advanced online format by the EMBO Journal.
The researchers have shown that the Notch and Wnt/Wingless signaling pathways exert control over the cell division machinery through two gene effectors, the proto-oncogen dMyc and the micro-RNA bantam. Regulated by Notch and Wnt/Wingless, these two genes instruct another gene, E2F, to activate the cell division machinery. "All the components were already known but we have clarified the order in the signaling cascade and the interaction between the molecular elements that regulate proliferation for the correct development of the wing", explains Héctor Herranz, first author of the article.
A study performed by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) on the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, unveils how distinct signaling pathways operate between neighboring cells in order to activate the cell proliferation machinery that results in the organized growth of the fly wing. The signaling pathways involved in this process are also conserved in humans, and when altered in diverse tissues give rise to the appearance of different types of cancer, including cancer of the colon and skin, and leukemia. The study has been undertaken in the Cell and Development Biology Laboratory headed by ICREA Research Professor, Marco Milán, at IRB Barcelona, and has been released in and advanced online format by the EMBO Journal.
The researchers have shown that the Notch and Wnt/Wingless signaling pathways exert control over the cell division machinery through two gene effectors, the proto-oncogen dMyc and the micro-RNA bantam. Regulated by Notch and Wnt/Wingless, these two genes instruct another gene, E2F, to activate the cell division machinery. "All the components were already known but we have clarified the order in the signaling cascade and the interaction between the molecular elements that regulate proliferation for the correct development of the wing", explains Héctor Herranz, first author of the article.
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| ©IRB Barcelona |
| Notch activation (green) and cell proliferation (red) in the Drosophila wing primordium |
The asteroid presumed to have wiped out the dinosaurs struck the Earth with such force that carbon deep in the Earth's crust liquefied, rocketed skyward, and formed tiny airborne beads that blanketed the planet, say scientists from the U.S., U.K., Italy, and New Zealand in this month's Geology.
The beads, known to geologists as carbon cenospheres, cannot be formed through the combustion of plant matter, contradicting a hypothesis that the cenospheres are the charred remains of an Earth on fire. If confirmed, the discovery suggests environmental circumstances accompanying the 65-million-year-old extinction event were slightly less dramatic than previously thought.
"Carbon embedded in the rocks was vaporized by the impact, eventually forming new carbon structures in the atmosphere," said Indiana University Bloomington geologist Simon Brassell, study coauthor and former adviser to the paper's lead author, Mark Harvey.
The beads, known to geologists as carbon cenospheres, cannot be formed through the combustion of plant matter, contradicting a hypothesis that the cenospheres are the charred remains of an Earth on fire. If confirmed, the discovery suggests environmental circumstances accompanying the 65-million-year-old extinction event were slightly less dramatic than previously thought.
"Carbon embedded in the rocks was vaporized by the impact, eventually forming new carbon structures in the atmosphere," said Indiana University Bloomington geologist Simon Brassell, study coauthor and former adviser to the paper's lead author, Mark Harvey.
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| ©Mark Harvey |
| Carbon cenospheres are tiny, carbon-rich particles that form when coal and heavy fuel are heated intensely. Scientists have now learned that cenospheres can form in the wake of asteroid impacts, too. |
The Times online reported recently that a data communications grid built to transfer data from the world's largest particle accelerator may be able to function as an alternate Internet, with speeds about 10,000 times faster than an average broadband connection. This network - referred to in the article simply as "the grid" - was built with modern fiber optic technology and currently has 55,000 servers connecting the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland with eleven locations internationally. The grid was built to house the data coming from CERN's newest project: the world's largest particle accelerator. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is designed to study the inner workings of matter and perhaps even discover the elusive Higgs Boson particle. Internet history buffs may recall that Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while researching at CERN.
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| ©Image Editor on Flickr |
| The Large Hadron Collider |
It may have seemed like just another improbable scene from a Hollywood sci-fi flick - Tom Cruise battling against an army of robotic spiders intent on hunting him down.
But the storyline from Minority Report may not be quite as far fetched as it sounds.
British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.
But the storyline from Minority Report may not be quite as far fetched as it sounds.
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| ©Unknown |
| Plans for a robot that can crawl like a spider are 'well developed' |
British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.
