I’m pretty sure most of you readers will have at some time in your life tried to swat a fly and failed miserably. Well researchers from the US have provided evidence to suggest that the flies fast thinking brain allows it to sense swats and move out of the way of danger, thus explaining why they are so difficult to swat. Read the rest of this entry »
Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system is shrinking according to studies conducted by the Messenger spacecraft. The planet’s diameter has shrunk by roughly 1.5km. The reasoning behind this finding is that the central core of the planet is cooling and as a result this causes the planet to shrink in size. Although the contraction was expected scientists had underestimated it by 60%.
UK researchers state that prions may play a protective role in preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease. This research states that prions help to prevent the build up of beta amyloid plaques. These are protein aggregates found in the brains of Alzheimer’s suffers, and are thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of this condition. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes it’s true, reports in the Nature biotechnology journal state that researchers have found a technique which enables immune cells to become resistant to the HIV virus. Although it is still early days, there is real hope that this could possibly lead to the development of a potential treatment method for individuals infected with the HIV virus, but further research is still needed.
According to reports in the telegraph, a German Shepherd dog that played an integral part in finding survivors from the rubble of the collapsed world trade centre may be cloned. BioArts international, a cloning company based in California stated that the German Shepard called Trakr is the most worthy candidate for cloning.
The haemophilias are disorders that affect the blood clotting system. Roughly 85% of haemophilia sufferers are affected by haemophilia A this translates into roughly 1 in 5000 males. Haemophilia B affects roughly 1 in 30,000 male. Haemophilia is a disease which has been in the spotlight in recent years due to it being an ideal candidate for gene therapy. Some have stated that if gene therapy cannot be implemented with haemophilia it is unlikely to work in other diseases.
Research into a number of future therapies to aid treatment of haemophilia suffers has yielded good results. Certain future treatments such as gene therapy if successful in haemophilia could pave the way for treatment of other diseases.
I have just finished reading an article in the Nature news blog regarding Spain’s plans to offer legal rights to apes? Yes it sounds crazy but this is something which has been a hot topic for a long time especially in the ethics arena.
The Spanish government are planning on putting their weight behind the long established great ape project. This project aims to give the same rights to apes, similar to human rights.
Yes it sounds like something out of heroes, but research has shown that DNA has telepathic abilities. According to a study published in the “ACS Journal of physical Chemistry” double stranded helical DNA can identify sequences which share homology (similarities) and can do this at distance.
This discovery has baffled scientists who are at a loss to explain this phenomenon. The study utilised fluorescence hybridisation techniques. This involves labelling probes with fluorescent dyes and allowing these to attach to sequences on DNA. The DNA samples were then placed in a neutral sterile environment and it was seen that similar DNA sequences were roughly twice as likely to interact. This was possible over a distance of up to one nanometre.
