Spinal cord scaffolding

Researchers in Chicago have developed a liquid scaffolding that could be used to repair severed spinal cords. The material is self-assembling-when the molecules of the liquid come into contact with living tissue, they form a long solid mass of long, hollow tubes. Nerve cells should in theory be able to grow through and around these tubes, repairing the broken spinal cord. After four to six weeks the scaffolding disintegrates, leaving an intact spine. The material is not ready for clinical trials yet, but when stem cells were added to the scaffold in the lab they turned into healthy neurons.

-Zoe Cormier
Source: Nature

Genetically engineered landmine detector

Scientists in Denmark may have found a way to prevent landmines from exploding thanks to a genetically modified plant that flushes crimson whenever it detects a landmine. Scientists inserted the gene responsible for the red pigment that comes out in autumn into the genetically engineered plant. The leaves switch leaf colour from green to red upon exposure to nitrogen dioxide gas emitted by buried landmines, allowing people to avoid them and cleanup crews to remove them. Only landmines near the surface however can be detected due to the plant’s small root system.

-Haowei Sun
Source: Nature

Monkey talk

New research into the activity of monkey brains when they vocalize has underlined the similarities between humans and apes. An imaging study of rhesus monkey brains revealed that they preferentially use the hearing system of the left side of their brain to understand and process verbal communication, just like the human brain. Moreover, the left side of the brain is only active during calls from their own species of monkey, similar to the human brain. Monkeys turn their right ear towards the sounds of other monkeys, suggesting that the left hemisphere is in charge of processing species-specific communication.

-HS
Source: Nature

No cure for mad cow disease yet

The antibodies designed to treat mad cow disease have been found to be potential nerve cell killers. In bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), protein particles known as prions tend to deform, multiply, and clog up brain cells. As a solution, antibodies were used to bind to normal prions and prevent them from deforming. However, new research indicates that these antibodies are capable of destroying nerve cells in mice. This suggests that the antibody therapy could actually worsen brain deterioration. Researchers however are currently experimenting with different kinds of antibodies, some of which might not kill nerve cells.

-HS
Source: Nature

Left-sided cradling

Over 85 per cent of all women will instinctively clasp a baby to their left side, and nobody seems sure why. It has been suggested that women prefer the left side so the infant can hear their heart beat. Others think it might have to do with handedness-right-handed women may simply like to have their dominant hand free. But researchers at the University of Sussex think it has to do with emotions and bonding. Most people use the right side of their brain (which controls the left side of the body) to process faces and emotions. By putting the child on the left side, this might help the mother to send emotional information about the child, such as laughter or tears, to the right side of the brain, and thus help the pair bond.

-ZC
Source: Nature