Tufts University researchers have transplanted engineered pancreatic beta cells into diabetic mice, then caused the cells to produce more than two to three times the typical level of insulin by exposing them to light. The light-switchable cells are designed...
Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life. Among their many jobs, they carry oxygen, build tissue, copy DNA for the next generation, and coordinate events within and between cells. Now scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
Brain activity for the two tasks of a) deciding to rescue the own sister, a friend, or strangers from a dangerous country in red and b) watching a movie believing to see genetically related sisters in blue.
Credit: Image courtesy...
Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and Columbia University in New York City have identified a protein that is critical for the expansion of typically scarce, life-saving blood stem cells.
The discovery may lead to new...
Asst. Prof. Sarah London has long appreciated zebra finches for their unique learning characteristics. The males learn from another male tutor, but their ability to memorize the tutor's song is restricted to a "critical period," or CP. This offers...
Cells in the body are wired like computer chips to direct signals that instruct how they function, research suggests.
Unlike a fixed circuit board, however, cells can rapidly rewire their communication networks to change their behaviour.
The discovery of this cell-wide web turns our...
One of the evolutionary disadvantages for mammals, relative to other vertebrates like fish and chickens, is the inability to regenerate sensory hair cells. The inner hair cells in our ears are responsible for transforming sound vibrations and gravitational forces...
Before new drugs can be administered to people, researchers first have to investigate their effects using cell cultures and animal testing. Human cell cultures are increasingly being used as a model system for this purpose. At the Max Planck...
This is an artistic reconstruction and skeleton made by Voltaire Paes Neto.
Credit: Voltaire Paes Neto; CC-BY
Some Late Triassic Brazilian fossils of mammal-like reptiles, previously identified as Chiniquodon, may in fact be the first Aleodon specimens found outside Africa, according...
Bioprosthetic ovary. By removing a female mouse’s ovary and replacing it with a bioprosthetic ovary, the mouse was able to not only ovulate but also give birth to healthy pups. The moms were even able to nurse their young.
Credit:...
Young worm, born in Mars soil simulant.
Credit: Wieger Wamelink, WUR
Two young worms are the first offspring in a Mars soil experiment at Wageningen University & Research. Biologist Wieger Wamelink found them in a Mars soil simulant that he obtained...
