Out of our minds: opium ’s part in imperial history
How a mind-altering, addictive substance was used as a weapon by one empire to subdue anotherHumans are an exquisitely intelligent and capable species of ape. Our physiology has been fine-tuned for efficient long-distance running; our hands are elegantly dextrous for manipulating and making; and our throats and mouths give us astonishing control over the sounds we make. We are virtuoso communicators, able to convey everything from physical instructions to abstract concepts, and to coordinate ourselves in teams and communities. We learn from each other, from our parents and peers, so new generations don ’t have to start f...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 23, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Lewis Dartnell Tags: Drugs Health Alcohol Tobacco industry Source Type: news
£ 1.5 million investment to bring Bristol spin-out Halo Therapeutics first antiviral spray into clinic
Clinical trials of an easy-to-use home therapeutic treatment for SARS-CoV-2 (coronaviruses) are underway following a £ 1.5 million investment into University of Bristol spin-out, Halo Therapeutics. (Source: University of Bristol news)
Source: University of Bristol news - May 22, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Grants and Awards, Health, International, Research; Faculty of Life Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Biochemistry, Institutes, Institutes, Bristol BioDesign Institute; Press Release Source Type: news
New UMD Study Shows How Mesothelioma Can Spread
Researchers at the University of Maryland are getting a better idea of why mesothelioma takes decades to develop in the body.
In a 2023 paper published in the journal Environmental Research, a team of researchers at the University of Maryland found that understanding mesothelioma involves the way immune cells “sense” and interact with particles around them.
The study found the geometry of contaminant particles is more important than mineral composition. This means asbestos causes an immune response once the immune system is exposed to the right shape and size of the particle.
Hijacking the Immune System
Res...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - May 17, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Tags: Clinical Trials/Research/Emerging Treatments Mesothelioma Source Type: news
When stem cells can ’t roll on a bumpy road, muscles break down
Key takeawaysStem cells travel along a collagen network to reach damaged muscle tissue and heal it.In Duchenne muscular dystrophy, stiff, scarred collagen prevents stem cells from reaching their target.A protein called sarcospan lessens this scarring and allows stem cells to do their job more successfully, pointing toward potential new treatments for the disorder.Muscles that ache after a hard workout usually don ’t hurt for long, thanks to stem cells that rush to the injured site along “collagen highways” within the muscle and repair the damaged tissue. But if the cells can’t reach their destinat...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - May 12, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Artificial intelligence provides new insight into preventing human disease
A molecular machine, which plays an essential ‘ cargo ’ role in controlling the delivery of proteins to the surface of human cells, and is implicated in several diseases, has been identified in a landmark study using artificial intelligence (AI). The research, led by an international team of scientists, is published today [11 May] in Cell. (Source: University of Bristol news)
Source: University of Bristol news - May 11, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Health, Research, International; Faculty of Life Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Biochemistry; Press Release Source Type: news
What We Owe the Future: A Million-Year View, or How to Look at the World from the Philosophical High Ground
By KLG, who has held research and academic positions in three US medical schools since 1995 and is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Associate Dean. He has performed and directed research on protein structure, function, and evolution; cell adhesion and motility; the mechanism of viral fusion…#klg #wesjackson #landinstitute #robertjensen #peteravictors #hermandaly #hermandalys #wendellberry #petervictor #oxford (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - May 10, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
News at a glance: U.S. tallies old-growth forests, Canadian scientists march for higher pay, and condor poop reveals the birds ’ ancient history
FOREST ECOLOGY
U.S. boosts tally of old forests
Last year, President Joe Biden surprised forest scientists when he ordered an inventory of the government’s holdings of mature and old-growth forests by this Earth Day. It triggered a scramble by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to create a formal definition of what constitutes “mature” and “old-growth” forests and to apply those definitions across millions of hectares. Meeting the 22 April deadline last month,
the agencies released their findings in a report
, noting that of the nearly 72 million hectares of fo...
Source: ScienceNOW - May 4, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Who wore this ancient deer pendant? DNA reveals a Stone Age woman with surprising origins
Twenty thousand years ago, someone dropped a deer-tooth pendant in a cave in southwestern Siberia, where it lay until archaeologists excavated it in 2019. Now, researchers have caught a glimpse of its last wearer. After years of effort, Elena Essel, a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (EVA), developed a way to extract DNA embedded in an artifact’s porous surface by sweat and skin cells. Her team’s
analysis of the ornament, reported this week in
Nature
, shows it once adorned a woman whose ancestry lay far east of the cave.
“It’s the first time to my ...
Source: ScienceNOW - May 3, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Bioinformatics, data and the value of open science
University of Limerick’s Dr Maria Doyle demystifies bioinformatics for SiliconRepublic.com and explains some of the many applications for this multidisciplinary field. Bioinformatics, Dr Maria Doyle explains, “combines biology, computer science and statistics to analyse and interpret biological…#universityoflimerick #mariadoyle #siliconrepubliccom #bioinformatics #biochemistry #phd #bioinformaticians #ul #profaedínculhanes #leroopensourceand (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - April 26, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Untangling Rosalind Franklin ’s Role in DNA Discovery, 70 Years On
Historians have long debated the role that Dr. Franklin played in identifying the double helix. A new opinion essay argues that she was an “equal contributor.” (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - April 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Emily Anthes Tags: Medicine and Health History (Academic Subject) Genetics and Heredity Biology and Biochemistry Nobel Prizes Cambridge University King ' s College London Cobb, Matthew Crick, Francis H C Watson, James D Cambridge (England) London ( Source Type: news
Use of antibiotics in farming ‘endangering human immune system’
Study suggests antimicrobial used to promote livestock growth breeds bacteria more resistant to our natural defencesThe blanket use of antibiotics in farming has led to the emergence of bacteria that are more resistant to the human immune system, scientists have warned.The research suggests that the antimicrobial colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and chicken farms in China, resulted in the emergence ofEcoli strains that are more likely to evade our immune system ’s first line of defence.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 25, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Hannah Devlin Science correspondent Tags: Antibiotics Agriculture Farming Environment Science Health Immunology Biochemistry and molecular biology Medical research UK news Source Type: news
How to eat MORE and still burn fat: New book by top biochemist gives vital health advice
When I created the Glucose Goddess Method, I never envisioned it as a weight loss diet. However, after running a pilot experiment last year, more than 1,000 people lost weight trying the Method. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - April 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
No kittens required: Scientists find new way to study toxoplasmosis parasite in lab
One of the most widespread parasites on the planet can also be one of the most difficult to study.
Toxoplasma gondii
—a single-celled protozoan—is capable of infecting almost every mammal and bird species,
including humans
, and in severe cases causes blindness, birth defects, and death. Yet it only sexually reproduces inside the intestines of domestic cats and other members of the Felidae family, prompting controversial studies on kittens.
Now, a research team has come up with a technique that uses gene editing of
Toxoplasma
to push the parasite toward sexu...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 31, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Q & A: Bioengineer Mireille Kamariza can ’t wait to see what’s next
When Mireille Kamariza joined theUCLA Samueli School of Engineering as an assistant professor of bioengineering in January, she brought with her an early record of innovation.Just a decade after earning her undergraduate degree at UC San Diego, Kamariza has already developed a potential point-of-care diagnostic test for tuberculosis. TB is the world ’s second-deadliest infectious disease, behind COVID-19, and still a serious burden in low-income countries.In the late 2010s, as a doctoral fellow at Stanford University, Kamariza and colleagues designed a system with a fluorescent “reporter” molecule attached to a sugar...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 23, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Compact x-ray laser would shrink billion-dollar machines to the size of a room
When the first x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) opened in 2009 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, it provided a new way to look at the atomic-scale world, revealing details about biochemical processes such as photosynthesis and exotic materials such as superconductors. But since then, only four other such billion-dollar facilities have been built worldwide, and getting time on them is difficult.
A group of researchers at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, now plans to build a new kind of free-electron laser, dramatically smaller and cheaper than anything that has come before. This month, ASU
...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 23, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
