Can heart cells renew themselves, and can scientists help them do so? Two papers published online in Nature today suggest that heart muscle cells can make copies of themselves at a very low rate, but that a genetic trick can prompt them to do a better job. Those results give hope that hearts damaged by cardiovascular disease — which causes the deaths of almost 17 million people a year — could be coaxed to regenerate themselves....
By Matt SiegelSYDNEY (Reuters) - Anti-whaling activists said on Monday they had captured images of Japanese ships killing protected whales inside an internationally recognized whale sanctuary, sparking criticism of the Australian government’s handling of the issue.The aerial footage released by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society appeared to show the bloodied remains of three minke whales on board the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru as it sailed in the Southern Ocean. The group said it had information that a fourth whale had also been killed....
One of the distinguishing features of machines is that they don’t need to sleep, unlike humans and any other creature with a central nervous system. Someday though, your toaster might need a nap from time to time, as may your car, fridge and anything else that is revolutionized with the advent of practical artificial intelligence technologies. The change will come when (and if) AI systems that mimic living brains are incorporated into the wide range of devices that currently rely on conventional computers and microprocessors to help us through the day....
By Ed StoddardJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 1,000 rhinos were poached for their horns in South Africa in 2013, a record number and an increase of over 50 percent from the previous year, the country’s department of environmental affairs said on Friday.Rhino hunting is driven by soaring demand in newly affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam and China, where the animal’s horns are prized as a key ingredient in traditional medicine....
Some good news for coffee lovers: a cup of joe may get you going in more ways than one. A new study shows that brewed coffee contains soluble fiber, the roughage found in oatmeal and apples that aids digestion, helps the body absorb vital nutrients and keeps a lid on cholesterol. Scientists already knew that coffee beans were rich in dietary fiber—and now Fulgencio Saura-Calixto and Elena Díaz-Rubio, food scientists at the National Research Council in Madrid, have confirmed for the first time that brewed coffee also contains it....
By Gopal Sharma and Ross Adkin KATHMANDU, April 26 (Reuters) - Nepal urged countries to send aid to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 1,400 people, a toll predicted to rise as rescuers used their hands to dig for survivors among the rubble on Sunday. Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures and patchy rain to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields in the crowded Kathmandu valley, too afraid to return to homes damaged by a 7....
Genius The FDA approved biotech drug Benlysta to treat lupus, the first new treatment for the autoimmune disease in 50 years. It is also the first drug ever developed specifically to target the debilitating affliction. Call your broker. A study in rats showed that poor nutrition during pregnancy caused a higher risk of disease for offspring in later life. An apple a day could keep the doctor away 50 years from now....
TECHNOLOGY’S PROMISE AND PERIL Your November/December 2014 issue is a wonderful reminder that the brain is an electromagnetic organ. I have incorporated much of what you describe in my clinical work as a doctor. Interested readers should look into a technique called a quantified electroencephalogram, which allows us to discern brain areas that are functioning either too fast or too slow and to discover poor inner communication. Such dysfunction can be corrected by brain biofeedback, in which we employ audio and visual entrainment of brain-activity patterns to correct clinical problems....
It was the summer of 1998, recalls Harvard University physicist Lisa Randall, when extra dimensions finally pulled her in. Extra dimensions–beyond the four we encounter every day (three of space plus one of time)–have been an ingredient of theoretical physics for decades: mathematician Theodor Kaluza proposed a fifth in 1919, string theory requires 10 of them, M-theory needs 11. But Randall hadn’t much use for them, she says, until that summer when she decided they might be helpful to supersymmetry, one of the conundrums she was pondering....
SA Forum is an invited essay from experts on topical issues in science and technology. This week NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a yearlong mission onboard the orbital laboratory, where they will conduct research to test how the human body endures a long-duration stay in space. Their mission is part of the work NASA is presently doing on the ISS to develop and test a whole host of long-duration mission capabilities and health-risk mitigations that are moving us forward toward a future Mars mission....
Why don’t men like to stop and ask directions? This question, which I first addressed in my 1990 book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, garnered perhaps the most attention of any issue or insight in that book. It appeared on cocktail napkins (“Real men don’t ask directions”) and became a staple of stand-up comics as well as jokes that made the rounds: “Why did Moses wander in the desert for 40 years?...
By combining a standard BBQ lighter with superfine microneedles that are common in medical and cosmetic procedures, researchers have developed a $1 device that uses electricity to inject certain vaccines more efficiently—and less painfully. Its developers say it could expand global access to vaccines containing genetic material, including the ones that fight COVID-19. “Everybody across the planet has a basic right to modern nucleic acid tools,” says Saad Bhamla, a chemical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-developer of the pen-sized device, called the ePatch....
Dear EarthTalk: Everyone knows we should recycle metal, glass and plastic cans and bottles, but what about all the lids, tops and caps? I see people recycling plastic bottles, for example, with their caps on, but I’ve always been told to thrown them out. Is that wrong? – Stefanie Gandolfi, Oakland, CA Many municipal recycling programs throughout the U.S. still do not accept plastic lids, tops and caps even though they take the containers that accompany them....
Don’t look now, but that tree may be watching you. Several lines of recent research suggest that plants are capable of vision—and may even possess something akin to an eye, albeit a very simple one. The idea that plants may have “eyes” is, in a way, nothing new. In 1907 Francis Darwin, Charles’s son, hypothesized that leaves have organs that are a combination of lens-like cells and light-sensitive cells. Experiments in the early 20th century seemed to confirm that such structures, now called ocelli, exist, but the concept of a “seeing plant” fell by the wayside—only to reemerge in the past few years....
The first flakes have already begun falling from New Jersey up through Boston. More than 5,000 flights have already been cancelled. Store shelves have been cleared of bread and milk. The blizzard is coming. An intense nor’easter is slated to drop snowfalls ranging from a few inches to around 3 feet in the worst-hit spots from Monday through Wednesday according to forecasters, along with strong winds and storm surge in coastal areas....
We all know someone who is not as smart as we are—and someone who is smarter. At the same time, we all know people who are better or worse than we are in a particular area or task, say, remembering facts or performing rapid mental math calculations. These variations in abilities and talents presumably arise from differences among our brains, and many studies have linked certain very specific tasks with cerebral activity in localized areas....
Bruce Batt, chief biologist for the conservation group Ducks Unlimited, based in Memphis, Tenn., explains. The linear flight formations of migratory birds are called echelons. The V and the J structures are typical and are the most readily recognized flock echelons, but other variations also occur. Studies of several species have shown that a true V-shaped echelon is, in fact, less common than a J formation is. There are two well-supported and complementary explanations for why birds fly in formation....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The religious practices of the early Indo-Aryans, known as the Vedic religion (1500 BCE to 500 BCE) were written down and later redacted into the Samhitas, four canonical collections of hymns or mantras, called the Veda, in archaic Sanskrit. The Late Vedic age (9th to 6th centuries BCE) marked the beginning of the Upanisadic or Vedantic phase....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The celadon (or greenware) ceramics produced in ancient Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392 CE), are regarded as some of the finest and most elegant pottery pieces produced anywhere. With a pale green lustre reminiscent of jade and a super smooth glaze Goryeo celadons remain some of the most prized collector’s items in the world of ceramics....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Dragons appear in the mythology of many ancient cultures but nowhere else in the world was the creature quite so revered as in China. There, in marked contrast to other world mythologies, the dragon was almost always seen in a positive light and particularly associated with life-giving rains and water sources....
