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Categories: Biology: Biotechnology, Paleontology: General
Published Researchers bioengineer an endocrine pancreas for type 1 diabetes
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists recently developed an efficient way to transplant pancreatic islets and demonstrated that the method can effectively reverse type 1 diabetes in nonhuman primates.
Published Prehistoric sea monster may have been shorter, stouter, than once believed
(via sciencedaily.com) A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.
Published Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bacteria produce a molecule that paralyzes immune system cells
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have discovered a strong immunological effect of the molecule LecB -- and a way to prevent it.
Published New study unveils epigenetic 'traffic lights' controlling stop and go for gene activity
(via sciencedaily.com) A major new study reveals a 'traffic light' mechanism controlling genetic activity within cells -- a system which could potentially be targeted by cancer drugs already in development. The research describes how 'epigenetic' changes to the structure of DNA can act as a stop-go signal in determining whether a gene should be read. Unlike our genetic make-up, which is well understood, the world of epigenetics is still largely unexplored and referred to as the 'dark matter' of the genome.
Published Mapping unknown territory
(via sciencedaily.com) A detailed atlas of gene expression in the zebrafish brain.
Published Pink + pink = gold: hybrid hummingbird's feathers don't match its parents
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists thought a gold-throated hummingbird was a new species. DNA revealed that it's a hybrid of two different species, each with pink throats. The discovery sheds light on how birds produce feather colors and how hummingbirds evolved their dazzling hues.
Published Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved
(via sciencedaily.com) Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.
Published Your gut's microbiome, on a chip
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers describe how gut-on-a-chip devices can bridge lab models and human biology. Modeling the microbiome is particularly difficult because of its unique environmental conditions, but through creative design, gut-on-a-chip devices can simulate many of these properties, such as the gut's anaerobic atmosphere, fluid flow, and pulses of contraction/relaxation. Growing intestinal cells in this environment means that they more closely resemble human biology compared to standard laboratory cell cultures.
Published Dinosaur claws used for digging and display
(via sciencedaily.com) Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.
Published Evolutionary history of detoxifying enzymes reconstructed
(via sciencedaily.com) Biochemists have succeeded in resurrecting the ancestral genes of five detoxifying enzymes which are present in all tetrapods to show how their divergence in function has occurred.
Published Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.
Published Cells avoid multitasking
(via sciencedaily.com) Textbooks will tell you that in dividing cells, production of new DNA peaks during the S-phase, while production of other macromolecules, such as proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides, continues at more or less the same level. Molecular biologists have now discovered that this is not true: protein synthesis shows two peaks and lipid synthesis peaks once.
Published Successful cure of HIV infection after stem cell transplantation, study suggests
(via sciencedaily.com) Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of severe blood cancers is the only medical intervention that has cured two people living with HIV in the past. An international group of physicians and researchers has now identified another case in which HIV infection has been shown to be cured in the same way. The successful healing process of this third patient was for the first time characterized in great detail virologically and immunologically over a time span of ten years.
Published Clues about the Northeast's past and future climate from plant fossils
(via sciencedaily.com) A team of researchers is working to understand the details of the climate for the eastern portion of the United States from the Miocene, which unfortunately is a blank spot on paleo-climate maps. New findings suggest the future climate will be very close to the warmer, wetter, and more homogeneous climate similar to conditions experienced 5 million years ago.
Published The achilles heel of the influenza virus: Ubiquitin protein may be an approach for future medicines
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Influenza viruses are becoming increasingly resilient to medicines. For this reason, new active ingredients are needed. Important findings in this regard have been provided: for the virus to proliferate, the polymerase of the influenza A virus has to be modified many times through enzymes in the host cells. The team of researchers was able to produce a comprehensive map of types of modification. Medicines directed against the enzymes woud be resilient to rapid mutations in the virus, thus offering great potential for the future.
Published Insect bite marks show first fossil evidence for plants' leaves folding up at night
(via sciencedaily.com) Plants can move in ways that might surprise you. Some of them even show 'sleep movements,' folding or raising their leaves each night before opening them again the next day. Now, researchers offer convincing evidence for these nightly movements, also known as foliar nyctinasty, in fossil plants that lived more than 250 million years ago.
Published Making engineered cells dance to ultrasound
(via sciencedaily.com) A team has developed a method for selectively manipulating genetically engineered cells with ultrasound.
Published Evolution of dinosaur body size through different developmental mechanisms
(via sciencedaily.com) The meat-eating dinosaurs known as theropods that roamed the ancient Earth ranged in size from the bus-sized T. rex to the smaller, dog-sized Velociraptor. Scientists puzzling over how such wildly different dinosaur sizes evolved recently found -- to their surprise -- that smaller and larger theropod dinosaurs like these didn't necessarily get that way merely by growing slower or faster.
Published Early Cretaceous shift in the global carbon cycle affected both land and sea
(via sciencedaily.com) Geologists doing fieldwork in southeastern Utah's Cedar Mountain Formation found carbon isotope evidence that the site, though on land, experienced the same early Cretaceous carbon-cycle change recorded in marine sedimentary rocks in Europe. This ancient carbon-cycle phenomenon, known as the 'Weissert Event' was driven by large, sustained volcanic eruptions in the Southern Hemisphere that greatly increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and produced significant greenhouse climate effects over a prolonged time.
Published Climate: Lessons from the latest global warming
(via sciencedaily.com) 56 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the largest and most rapid climate warming events in its history: the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which has similarities to current and future warming. This episode saw global temperatures rise by 5-8°C. It was marked by an increase in the seasonality of rainfalls, which led to the movement of large quantities of clay into the ocean, making it uninhabitable for certain living species. This scenario could be repeated today.