No nerve? Grow it
Prosthetic limbs have come one step closer to behaving naturally. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a way to grow a type of nerve fibre called axon which relay electrical impulses between nerve cells. In a bioreactor, two living nerve populations sprout axons that connect them. As the populations are pulled apart over a series of days, the healthy axon grows to a desired length. These cells are essential in achieving the team’s ultimate goal, giving a prosthetic the ability to relay information to the brain and receive and interpret responses. In their experiment, one cell culture is grown onto an electrode while the other end is not. The axons and nerve cells will act as an electrical extension cord that can plug into living tissue via the non-electrode end, and relay the signals from the brain to the prosthetic. The electrode-grown cells will send sensory information, like temperature or pressure stimuli, back to the brain. The team is currently testing their axons in a rat model of spinal-cord damage.
Source: Neurosurgery
-Sandy Huen
Fiendish fish fathers
A new study has confirmed old predictions that male fish are more likely to eat their offspring when they are unsure of their paternity. While studying the small colourful fish Telmatherina sarasinorum in Indonesia, scientists discovered that females never cannibalized their own eggs, since they could be sure that the eggs were their own offspring. However, they found that the more males present during the spawning period, the more likely each male was to eat the eggs.
Source: American Naturalist
-Mayce Al-Sukhni
