Lifeboat Foundation

For many years, scientists believed that our brains were unable to produce new neurons once we had been born, and that we all had to make do with the brain cells we started life with. Later, it became clear that new brain cells are in fact created in some key brain regions, replacing those that become damaged and protecting us from dementia. Now, researchers have discovered that the stem cells giving rise to these neurons originate in the membranes encasing the brain, known as the meninges.

Publishing their findings in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the authors claim that their discovery of this source of stem cells could one day lead to new treatments for brain damage or neurodegenerative disorders.

Most neurogenesis in the adult brain occurs in a region called the hippocampus, where the creation of new brain cells ensures our memories remain in working order as we age. The meninges penetrate the brain at every level, encapsulating a number of different regions, including the hippocampus.

Continue reading “The Membranes Covering The Brain Are Loaded With Neuronal Stem Cells” »

The 20th century was loaded with experiments and discoveries that I sometimes forget how big of an impact things like quantum theory really had on our lives. Bold new thought experiments and suggestions have been made that seemingly left us wondering what our universe might be made of after all.

As unmanned aerial drones have become a critical part of modern warfare, the Pentagon is now looking to deploy autonomous robots underwater, patrolling the sea floor on what one top Navy official called an “Eisenhower highway network,” complete with rest stops where the drones could recharge.

Although still in the development stages, the technology has matured in recent years to be able to overcome the vast difficulties of operating underwater, a far more harsh environment than what aerial drones face in the sky.

Saltwater corrodes metal. Water pressure can be crushing at great depths. And communication is severely limited, so the vehicles must be able to navigate on their own without being remotely piloted.

Continue reading “The new frontier for drone warfare: Under the oceans” »

I have been evangelizing this for a while and glad to see others chiming in.

London, Nov 26 (IANS) Researchers have engineered cells with a “built-in genetic circuit” that produces a molecule that impairs the ability of cancer cells to survive and grow in their low oxygen environment.

The genetic circuit produces the machinery necessary for the production of a compound that inhibits a protein which has a significant and critical role in the growth and survival of tumours.

Continue reading “Human cells with ‘built-in circuit’ can kill cancer cells” »

A synthetic metabolic pathway developed by Tobias Erb and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg converts CO₂ from the atmosphere into organic matter more efficiently than plants are able to through photosynthesis. We asked the researcher what significance this process could have for climate protection, discussed the hurdles the research team had to overcome to achieve their goal, and looked at the new perspectives that synthetic biology opens up.

Does the synthetic metabolic pathway that fixes CO₂ now represent an effective means of curbing climate change?

Firstly, we are aiming to understand the fundamental biological and chemical principles of how CO₂ in gaseous form can be converted into organic molecules. Our primary motivation is not stopping climate change. We are seeking to develop atmospheric CO₂ as a source of carbon for the future using biological methods. Producing a CO2-neutral process or even one that removes CO₂ from the atmosphere and has a positive impact on the climate would be a fantastic secondary effect.

Continue reading “Biologist discusses a synthetic metabolic pathway that fixes carbon dioxide and synthetic biology” »

Led by Nikolay Kandul, senior postdoctoral scholar in biology and biological engineering in the laboratory of Professor of Biology Bruce Hay, the team developed a technique to remove mutated DNA from mitochondria, the small organelles that produce most of the chemical energy within a cell. A paper describing the research appears in the November 14 issue of Nature Communications. There are hundreds to thousands of mitochondria per cell, each of which carries its own small circular DNA genome, called mtDNA, the products of which are required for energy production. Because mtDNA has limited repair abilities, normal and mutant versions of mtDNA are often found in the same cell, a condition known as heteroplasmy.

We have slim chance, suggests the British physicist Stephen Wolfram, of distinguishing an extraterrestrial artifact from a natural celestial object.

It’s been a long time since Australia was a player in space exploration. One man wants to change that – with the help of a plane that travels five times the speed of sound.

Hitting the pause button on development in embryos has implications for understanding aging.

UC San Francisco researchers have found a way to pause the development of early mouse embryos for up to a month in the lab, a finding with potential implications for assisted reproduction, regenerative medicine, aging, and even cancer, the authors say.

The new study—published online November 23, 2016 in Nature —involved experiments with pre-implantation mouse embryos, called blastocysts. The researchers found that drugs that inhibit the activity a master regulator of cell growth called mTOR can put these early embryos into a stable and reversible state of suspended animation.

Continue reading “Researchers put mouse embryos in suspended animation” »