17 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
You think brain surgery is hard? Try it on a fruit fly.It takes a steady hand to perform microsurgery on the head of a fruitfully. But it turns out that neuroscientists may no longer have to perform this arduous task. In recent years, neuroscientists have begun to design and build robotic systems that allow them to perform high-throughput brain imaging experiments involving model organisms such as Drosophila in real time. âBrains in Action,â a recent...... Read More
16 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
Stem Cells Stop MS in MiceIn the fall of 2010, a team of scientists in California injected human stem cells into the spinal cords of mice with a crippling condition similar to multiple sclerosis, figuring that the mice would reject the cells as they might reject an organ transplant. According to Tom Lane, a University of California, Irvine pathologist who now works at the University of Utah, the research was designed to better...... Read More
13 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
MIT and BGU Announce Seed FundBen-GurionUniversity of the Negev (BGU) in Beersheva, Israel, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, signed an agreement on May 25 to create a new seed fund to finance joint research collaborations and student exchanges. The MIT-Israel â Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev Seed Fund is part of MISTI Global Seed Funds. MISTI will offer funds to MIT faculty...... Read More
10 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
Who Says Science Isn’t Glamorous? Sometimes Hollywood Calls!Do you think the land of sitcoms is completely mindless? Think again. The CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory has had a UCLA astrophysicist on its staff for all seven of its seasons. David Saltzberg, the showâs science consultant was recently interviewed by Science magazine. Hereâs a look at what he had to say about this unconventional job. As far as accuracy goes, Saltzberg says that the writers...... Read More
09 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
Life is a Bowl of Cherries When You Get a Good Night’s SleepChronic insomnia is a burden for anyone, but among the elderly itâs of particular concern because it can aggravate existing health conditions and lead to cognitive decline and injuries. Exactly what percentage of the elderly suffers from insomnia is not known, largely because there is no exact definition of it among either researchers or their subjects, but it is clear that it is widespread. The...... Read More
03 Jun, 2014 | by Labroots
Artificial Photosynthesis Holds Promise of Unlimited, Clean FuelImagine if we could produce and store energy from the sun the way plants do. We would have a basically unlimited supply of fuel without generating any pollution. A dream? Yes, but one that is a bit closer to reality thanks to research conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since sunlight is only available during the day, using it to create energy results in a storage problem. Batteries...... Read More
30 May, 2014 | by Labroots
Making Sense of MitochondriaWhile all living organisms inherit mitochondria from their mothers, the fatherâs mitochondria are destroyed at the time of fertilization. Special cellular vesicles that originate in female fruit fliesâ egg actively seek out and destroy the fatherâs mitochondria, according to research conducted by Dr. Eli Arama and a team in the Weizmann Instituteâs Molecular Genetics Department. In the study,...... Read More
29 May, 2014 | by Labroots
Can We Extend Our Lifespan the Easy Way?Itâs been known for a long time that when animals drastically decrease their calorie intake, they can avoid many age-related health problems and live for a much longer time. But, using this approach to extend human lives is questionable. For one thing, scientists still have not proven the benefits of calorie restriction in humans and other primates. For another, even if this approach does work, people...... Read More
20 May, 2014 | by Labroots
New insights into an age-old remedySince ancient times, ginseng has been used as a cure for just about anything from reducing fatigue and increasing libido to lowering blood sugar levels and strengthening the immune system. Today, ginseng is one of the most commonly used over-the-counter herbal medicines. Yet, as popular as ginseng is, research supporting its health benefits is scarce. That may be changing thanks to a group of researchers...... Read More
19 May, 2014 | by Labroots
It Looks Like the Y Chromosome (and men) are Here to StayThe male-sex defining Y chromosome, has only 19 of the approximately 600 genes it once shared with the female-defining X chromosome over 200 million years ago, making it much smaller than the X and our 21 other chromosome pairs. In fact, the Y has so few genes left that there was some concern that the loss of a few more could push it to extinction, and with it the male sex. Two independent studies,...... Read More