Stem cells are go
According to guidelines issued by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian scientists may now harvest stem cells from embryos left over from fertility treatments or abortions.
The guidelines are more liberal than U.S. laws, but stricter than U.K. legislation that allows researchers to generate human clones as long as they are destroyed by a certain point in development.
Stem cells are specialized cells that are capable of developing into any kind of tissue in the body, be it brain, liver or heart. They are prized by researchers because many in the scientific community believe they can be used to regenerate organs that have been ravaged by disease.
Since collecting stem cells from an aborted embryo requires its destruction, many anti-abortion activists oppose the ruling. Pro-life factions in the Liberal government have accused CIHR chairman Alan Bernstein of “trying to circumvent the parliamentary process.”
Potato party
A group of U.K. researchers have concocted a fortified French fry: a genetically engineered potato that doesn’t get mushy when frozen and thawed.
In a standard spud, starch—which is composed of long chains of glucose molecules that are strung together in linear chains—picks up water molecules during the cooking process. This causes the starch chains to stiffen up in an orderly fashion. But when cooked taters are frozen and thawed, the water molecules are forced out of the rigid matrix and the straight-laced starches collapse into a mushy mess. The result: pandemonium in your poutine.
So, scientists tinkered with the enzyme that tells a potato cell to assemble glucose units into long starch chains. This resulted in a new kind of starch made of small stretches of the sugar that pack together like pine needles on an evergreen branch. These short pieces resisted tangling together much better than regular, long starches.
Scientists hope to use the technology to replace chemical treatments in food processing.
SUPER SCIENCE FACT
I like big butts and I cannot lie/You other brothers can’t deny/That when a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist/And a round thing in your face/You get sprung/Wanna pull up tough/Cuz you notice that butt was stuffed. Pure science, girl. Pure science.
