New knowledge about the remarkable properties of black holes
http://phys.org/news/2012-12-knowledge-remarkable-properties-black-holes.html#ajTabshttp://phys.org/news/2012-12-knowledge-remarkable-properties-black-holes.html#ajTabs
Brain cells developed from pee
Brain cells developed from pee
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Parkinson’s disease|DNA|brain cells
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NEW YORK: In a breakthrough, scientists have engineered brain cells
from human pee, a finding that could revolutionize treatments for
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's . As a person urinates, skin cells are
routinely shed from the lining in the kidney, and it's these cells that
the researchers reprogrammed into stem cells, which can turn into any
type of cell in the body, including brain cells.
The new research could one day provide a quicker way to make brain cells unique to an individual , LiveScience reported.
Because the technique relies on urine, which is much easier to get than blood, it could be easier to extract such cells from almost any patient, including children, Marc Lalande, a researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center told Nature News.
"It's easier to get a child to give a urine sample than to prick them for blood," Lalande said.
Chinese researchers, in the current study, used a newer, safer approach by harvesting skin cells that line the kidneys and are routinely shed in human urine.
They injected new genetic instructions to reprogramme cells to become brain cells. But unlike the viral method, those instructions only stick around temporarily , Brennand said.
"Holes are made in the cell membrane so DNA can enter, but because the DNA doesn't integrate into the genome, but just sits in the cyplasm, it exists transiently," Brennand said. The reprogramming instructions are therefore eventually lost as the cells divide, Brennand wrote.
With these new genetic instructions , the cells transformed into brain stem cells, which can turn into different types of brain cells. The transformation from kidney cell to brain stem cell took just 12 days, and within a month, the cells had morphed into fullfledged brain cells.
Unlike other stem cell technologies , the pee-based brain cells didn't form tumours when implanted into rats.
The new research could one day provide a quicker way to make brain cells unique to an individual , LiveScience reported.
Because the technique relies on urine, which is much easier to get than blood, it could be easier to extract such cells from almost any patient, including children, Marc Lalande, a researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center told Nature News.
"It's easier to get a child to give a urine sample than to prick them for blood," Lalande said.
Chinese researchers, in the current study, used a newer, safer approach by harvesting skin cells that line the kidneys and are routinely shed in human urine.
They injected new genetic instructions to reprogramme cells to become brain cells. But unlike the viral method, those instructions only stick around temporarily , Brennand said.
"Holes are made in the cell membrane so DNA can enter, but because the DNA doesn't integrate into the genome, but just sits in the cyplasm, it exists transiently," Brennand said. The reprogramming instructions are therefore eventually lost as the cells divide, Brennand wrote.
With these new genetic instructions , the cells transformed into brain stem cells, which can turn into different types of brain cells. The transformation from kidney cell to brain stem cell took just 12 days, and within a month, the cells had morphed into fullfledged brain cells.
Unlike other stem cell technologies , the pee-based brain cells didn't form tumours when implanted into rats.
Life of Pi - Movie Trailers - iTunes
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Nov 28, 2012
Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) creates a groundbreaking ...Scientists discover mini Nile river[of ethane and methane] on Saturn's moon Titan
Images
by Nasa's Cassini mission have revealed for the first time a river
system in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.
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WASHINGTON: Nasa scientists have spotted the longest extraterrestrial river system ever - on Saturn's moon Titan - and it appears to be a miniature version of Earth's Nile river.
The river valley on Titan stretches more than 400 kilometres from its "headwaters" to a large sea, a Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory statement said.
In comparison, the Nile river on Earth stretches about 6,700 kilometres.
Images by Nasa's Cassini mission have revealed for the first time a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.
Titan is known to have vast seas - the only other body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to possess a cycle of liquids on its surface.
However, the thick Titan atmosphere is a frigid one, meaning liquid water couldn't possibly flow. The liquids on Titan are therefore composed of hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane, Discovery News reported.
"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University, Utah.
"Such faults - fractures in Titan's bedrock - may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves," Radebaugh said.
In Titan's equatorial regions, images from Cassini's visible-light cameras in late 2010 revealed regions that darkened due to recent rainfall. Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed liquid ethane at a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere known as Ontario Lacus in 2008.
"Titan is the only place we've found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface," said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, and rivers move that rain to lakes and seas, where evaporation starts the cycle all over again. On Earth, the liquid is water; on Titan, it's methane; but on both it affects most everything that happens," Wall said.
The radar image taken on September 26, 2012 shows Titan's north polar region, where the river valley flows into Kraken Mare, a sea that is, in terms of size, between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on Earth.
The river valley on Titan stretches more than 400 kilometres from its "headwaters" to a large sea, a Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory statement said.
In comparison, the Nile river on Earth stretches about 6,700 kilometres.
Images by Nasa's Cassini mission have revealed for the first time a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.
Titan is known to have vast seas - the only other body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to possess a cycle of liquids on its surface.
However, the thick Titan atmosphere is a frigid one, meaning liquid water couldn't possibly flow. The liquids on Titan are therefore composed of hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane, Discovery News reported.
"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University, Utah.
"Such faults - fractures in Titan's bedrock - may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves," Radebaugh said.
In Titan's equatorial regions, images from Cassini's visible-light cameras in late 2010 revealed regions that darkened due to recent rainfall. Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed liquid ethane at a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere known as Ontario Lacus in 2008.
"Titan is the only place we've found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface," said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, and rivers move that rain to lakes and seas, where evaporation starts the cycle all over again. On Earth, the liquid is water; on Titan, it's methane; but on both it affects most everything that happens," Wall said.
The radar image taken on September 26, 2012 shows Titan's north polar region, where the river valley flows into Kraken Mare, a sea that is, in terms of size, between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on Earth.
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