Lifeboat Foundation

A new synthetic probe offers a safe and straightforward approach for visualizing chromosome tips in living cells. The probe was designed by scientists at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Science (iCeMS) and colleagues at Kyoto University, and could advance research into aging and a wide range of diseases, including cancers. The details were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“Chromosome ends are constantly at risk of degradation and fusion, so they are protected by structures called telomeres, which are made of long repeating DNA sequences and bound proteins,” says iCeMS chemical biologist Hiroshi Sugiyama, who led the study. “If telomeres malfunction, they are unable to maintain chromosome stability, which can lead to diseases such as cancer. Also, telomeres normally shorten with each cell division until they reach their limit, causing cell death.”

Visualizing telomeres, especially their physical arrangements in real-time, is important for understanding their relevance to disease and aging. Several visualization approaches already exist, but they have disadvantages. For example, some can only observe telomeres in preserved, or fixed, cells. Others are time-consuming or involve harsh treatments that denature DNA.

An international team of scientists has defied nature to make diamonds in minutes in a laboratory at room temperature—a process that normally requires billions of years, huge amounts of pressure and super-hot temperatures.

The team, led by The Australian National University (ANU) and RMIT University, made two types of diamonds: the kind found on an engagement ring and another type of diamond called Lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

One of the lead researchers, ANU Professor Jodie Bradby, said their breakthrough shows that Superman may have had a similar trick up his sleeve when he crushed coal into diamond, without using his heat ray.

With lithium-containing batteries facing constraints on many of the metals they contain, Nina Notman looks at whether its group 1 neighbour sodium can supply the answer.

The lithium-ion battery powers much of our modern lives, a fact reflected in this year’s Nobel prize. It resides in devices ranging from very small wearable electronics, through mobile phones and laptops, to electric vehicles and ‘the world’s biggest battery’ – the huge 100MW/129MWh Tesla battery installed on an Australian wind farm in 2017.

‘Lithium-ion has a massive span of applications,’ explains Jonathan Knott, an energy storage researcher at the University of Wollongong in Australia. ‘It is being used as a hammer to crack every nut and we need to start getting a little bit more sophisticated in the use of the best tool for the job.’

Circa 2015

And we have CDs to thank for it.

Circa 2019

A memory-storage device can bank information delivered by either light or electronic signals.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have sequenced the genome of the bowhead whale, estimated to live for more than 200 years with low incidence of disease.

Published in the journal Cell Reports, the research could offer new insight into how animals and humans could achieve a long and healthy life.

Scientists compared the genome with those from other shorter-lived mammals to discover genetic differences unique to the bowhead whale.

The CERN in Geneva has become a sink for public money.

At the same time there’s a lack of funding in other research areas, that would be much more urgent!

Continue reading “Particle Physicists Continue Empty Promises” »

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Animal products, including meat, cheese, and eggs contain carnitine and choline, metabolites that are converted by gut bacteria into TMA, which is then converted by the liver into TMAO. Plasma levels of TMAO are associated with an increased risk of disease and death, so should we limit intake of these animal products?

Continue reading “Kidney Function: The Missing Link In The TMAO-Health And Disease Story?” »

The space industry is opening up new frontiers in Southeast Asia, with Singapore fast emerging as a regional hub for a growing tribe of scientists, inventors, designers and so-called astropreneurs with their sights set firmly on the stars.

Entrepreneurs and tech start-ups have joined the space race. Singapore is fast emerging as a space technology hub, bringing together investors, scientists, designers and inventors.