Category Archives: News & Archives

Machine learning technique to predict human cell organization

Scientists at the Allen Institute have used machine learning to train computers to see parts of the cell the human eye cannot easily distinguish. Using 3D images of fluorescently labeled cells, the research team taught computers to find structures inside living cells without fluorescent labels, using only black and white images generated by an inexpensive…

Scientists Grow Full-Sized, Beating Human Hearts From Stem Cells

Of the 4,000 Americans waiting for heart transplants, only 2,500 will receive new hearts in the next year. Even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, the biggest risk is the their bodies will reject the new heart and launch a massive immune reaction against the foreign cells. To combat the problems of organ…

Gut bacteria’s shocking secret: They produce electricity

While bacteria that produce electricity have been found in exotic environments like mines and the bottoms of lakes, scientists have missed a source closer to home: the human gut. University of California, Berkeley, scientists discovered that a common diarrhea-causing bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, produces electricity using an entirely different technique from known electrogenic bacteria, and that…

Genes are key to academic success, study suggests

Parents always worry about whether their children will do well in school, but their kids probably were born with much of what they will need to succeed. A new study published in npj Science of Learning by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and King's College London explains the substantial influence genes have on academic…

Artificial anti-oxidant may be the next go-to supplement

Naturally-derived anti-oxidants have become the 'it' health ingredient to look for in food. But researchers from UBC Okanagan and the University of Bologna have discovered that TEMPO -- a well-known artificial anti-oxidant -- is up to 100 times more powerful than nature's best and could help counteract everything from skin damage to Alzheimer's Disease. Free…

8,000 new antibiotic combinations are surprisingly effective

Scientists have traditionally believed that combining more than two drugs to fight harmful bacteria would yield diminishing returns. The prevailing theory is that that the incremental benefits of combining three or more drugs would be too small to matter, or that the interactions among the drugs would cause their benefits to cancel one another out.…

How tissues and organs are sculpted during embryogenesis

Ever wondered how groups of cells managed to build your tissues and organs while you were just an embryo? Using state-of-the-art techniques he developed, UC Santa Barbara researcher Otger Campàs and his group have cracked this longstanding mystery, revealing the astonishing innerworkings of how embryos are physically constructed. Not only does it bring a century-old…

Unravelling the reasons why mass extinctions occur

Scientists from the University of Leicester have shed new light on why mass extinctions have occurred through history -- and how this knowledge could help in predicting upcoming ecological catastrophes. The international team has investigated sudden ecological transitions throughout history, from mass mortality events in the far past to more recent extinctions which have occurred…

Artificial cells are tiny bacteria fighters

"Lego block" artificial cells that can kill bacteria have been created by researchers at the University of California, Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering. The work is reported Aug. 29 in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. "We engineered artificial cells from the bottom-up -- like Lego blocks -- to destroy bacteria," said Assistant Professor Cheemeng…

Nurseries Restore Staghorn Coral in the Florida Keys

Wide-eyed, she said, “This is what it should look like? It’s beautiful!” Despite spending a year helping to restore staghorn coral in the Florida Keys, this was the first time my snorkeling partner, Christina, from Coral Restoration Foundation had seen a huge staghorn colony in the wild. We were snorkeling at Pulaski Shoal, one of the…