Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham succeeded in using induced stem-cells for gene therapy for the first time. The scientists used cells taken from the tip of a sickle-cell model mouse’s ...
Animal-friendly Meat
Scientists from the University of Western Australia have managed to create ‘semi-living’ food. The scientists used a new tissue engineering technique to grow sample cells from animals and produce edible meat that does not require killing animals. The project, named ...
Sex, Sharks and Cancer
In 2001, Zoo workers at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, were astonished to find a hammerhead shark pup in an aquarium devoid of male bonehead sharks. Thorough genetic analysis recently revealed that the pup was indeed a result ...
Do Monkeys ‘Pay’ for Sex?
A recent study conducted in Indonesia shows that male primates “paid” for sexual access to females in the form of pre-sex rituals, and that the success of these rituals was reduced as the number of available females went up. Although ...
Smart-Bombing Cancer
Cancer therapy most commonly includes radiation and chemotherapy, procedures that themselves often lead to the death of patients. Over the past few years, clever ways have been developed to exploit the brilliance and efficacy of the immune system to fight ...
Three-Parent Embryo Created in a Lab
Scientists at the Newcastle University in the U.K. have successfully implanted embryo nucleuses, containing DNA from a mother and a father, into donor eggs. Although the nucleuses of the donor eggs had been removed, they still contained healthy mitochondria, which ...
Electronic Structure of DNA Revealed
Utilizing a technique that combines low temperature measurements and theoretical calculations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have revealed for the first time the electronic structure of single DNA molecules. This development could advance the creation of future DNA based computers ...
New Infrared Camera to Help Fight Cancer
Researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory have developed an infrared camera that can take a thermal image of the head and neck area of cancer patients. The images will help medical staff predict which patients are likely to develop severe ...
The Wave That Changed Science
Over the centuries many sailors described seeing huge ocean waves, monsters of the seas that towered to heights of 30 meters and more. Those Rogue Waves, as they were called, appeared suddenly and rammed into the unfortunate vessel. Scientists tended ...
Safe Ebola Virus
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have successfully mutated the Ebola virus to create a safe virus strain that can reproduce only in certain engineered cells. The mutated form of the virus can be used to further study the deadly ...