Wear your brain on your sleeve
Patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s have new hope because of recent research conducted at the Gladstone Institutes. Published in Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Sheng Ding and his colleagues used genetic protein combinations to induce reprogramming of human adult skin cells into functional brain cells — cells that look and act like human neurons. Previously, Gladstone researchers had discovered a way of turning skin cells into embryonic stem cells, cells that have the potential to become any cell in the body. However, due to the numerous controversies surrounding the harvest and use of stem cells from human embryos, scientists have been investigating alternate ways of obtaining stem cells. Dr. Ding’s group took the process one step further by altogether bypassing the stem cell stage and converting skin cells directly to neurons. While still in its preliminary phase, this research not only holds promise as a potential therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, it also can be used to model such diseases and aid in the treatment process.
— Mayce Al-Sukhni
Source: ScienceDaily
Daddy Dearest on a whole new Level
A recent study published in The American Naturalist, suggests that conflict over genetic transmission could lead to the extinction of males in the cottony cushion scale bug species. The female bugs have foregone mating with the males in their population and developing eggs are instead inseminated by a parasitic tissue mass of their father’s sperm that lives within the female’s body. In a computer simulated scale population, investigators Andy Gardner, from the University of Oxford, and Laura Ross, from the University of Massachusetts, found that once this fatherly parasite emerged and mothers began passing it on to their daughters, it spread to virtually all females, making males in the population obsolete. It is unlikely however, that natural populations will support the model’s predictions. Since a female has her father’s genes within her own genome, fertilizing her eggs with paternal sperm would be the genetic equivalent of inbreeding. Inbreeding does not produce much adaptive genetic variation and is disadvantageous compared to more genetically variable individuals.
— Crystal Vincent
Source: National Geographic Weird News
Darkest planet ever deemed not evil
Astronomers have discovered a new planet, blacker than coal, using NASA’s Kepler space telescope. Named TrES-2b, this Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet is heated to 1,800 degrees and reflects almost no light. David Kippping, lead author of the study and astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, predicts that “if we could see this planet up close, it would look like a near-black ball of gas, with a slight glowing red tinge to it.” The space telescope used light sensors to observe thousands of stars, looking for ‘dimming’ patterns among them. The darker side of TrES-2b faces the telescope as the planet orbits its host-star. When the illuminated side of the planet becomes visible, the telescope discovered only slight dimming that only changed by 6.5 parts per million compared to its host-star’s brightness. What makes TrES-2b so dark, Kipping suggests, is either an “abundance of gaseous sodium and titanium oxide” or “something exotic that we have not thought of before.” TrES-2b could be a part of a whole new class of extrasolar planets, or, it could be unique.
— Tanya Debi
Source: National Geographic Science
A new Earth? Outer space version
A study has found that the distant planet HD85512b, located over 36 light-years away, may be able to sustain life. With a mass 3.6 times that of Earth, the atmospheric composition is likely to be similar to that of our planet, as predicted through the use of planet formation models. The distance between HD85512b and the star it orbits is such that one would expect to discover water in its liquid form, if present at all. However, one condition is that the cloud cover must reach at least 50 per cent to prevent overheating and it is not currently known whether the planet meets this requirement. Other factors that contribute to making the planet habitable include a reduced chance of geomagnetic disturbances and an orbital path that aids in producing consistent climate conditions.
— Kimberly Shek
Source: National Geographic Science
