In C. elegans, the functional recovery of the damaged neurons happens only when proximal axons successfully fuse with their distal counterparts. A team led by Dr. Anindya Ghosh-Roy from the National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, found that the ability to regenerate neurons gets reduced with age as the fusion is not complete. The work raises hopes … Continue reading NBRC researchers uncover how damaged neurons recover function
PNAS
IISER Bhopal team’s new strategies to fight breast cancer
BORIS gene depletion and inhibition of DNA methylation starved the cancer cells of energy as it led to decreased glucose uptake. BORIS depletion affects other cancer-related hallmark (cancer growth, reduced apoptosis and abnormal metabolism). So targeting BORIS gene might be better. Inhibiting the growth and accelerating the death rate of breast cancer cells may be … Continue reading IISER Bhopal team’s new strategies to fight breast cancer
Farmer suicides in India may be linked to climate change
The increase in temperature during the cropping season reduces crop yields, thus resulting in increased suicides. Climate change has led to over 59,000 farmer suicides over the last 30 years in India. Even a 1 degree C increase in temperature above 20 degrees C in a single day during the crop growing season in India … Continue reading Farmer suicides in India may be linked to climate change
With 18 million tonnes, a remote island turns into plastic junkyard
The beaches of Henderson Island, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean about 5,000 km away from the nearest population centre, are heavily littered with plastic waste. The beaches have an estimated 38 million plastic debris items weighing 17.6 tonnes. The largest of the four islands of the Pitcairn Island group, Henderson Island is … Continue reading With 18 million tonnes, a remote island turns into plastic junkyard
Bengaluru researchers mimic nature to produce richer colours
In a novel approach that mimics nature, Bengaluru-based researchers have designed crystalline materials that selectively scatter specific colours of light. Dyes and pigments produce colour predominantly through selective absorption of light. But scattering of light by particles which are arranged in an ordered, periodic pattern produces structural colour, which gives butterfly wings their colour and … Continue reading Bengaluru researchers mimic nature to produce richer colours
Thanks to air pollution, magnetic particles found in the brain
The effects of air pollution on human health has gone up by a few notches with the discovery of large number of rounded magnetite nanoparticles of about 18 nanometres in diameter (and maximum of 150 nm) in the frontal cortex tissue of the brain of 37 people. The people studied were 3-92 years old and … Continue reading Thanks to air pollution, magnetic particles found in the brain
Less risk of skin cancer if exposed to UV radiation in the morning: Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar
“If you really must go to a tanning booth, do it in the morning,” Aziz Sancar, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, U.S., who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two others — Tomas Lindahl of Francis Crick Institute and Clare Hall Laboratory, Hertfordshire, U.K. and Paul Modrich of Howard Hughes Medical … Continue reading Less risk of skin cancer if exposed to UV radiation in the morning: Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar
Fixed nitrogen: Mars was once habitable
The Mars rover Curiosity has for the first time found evidence of indigenous nitrogen in the form of nitrate in aeolian deposits and in two mudstone deposits on the red planet. This discovery has great implications for habitability and, “specifically for the potential evolution of a nitrogen cycle at some point in Martian history.” The … Continue reading Fixed nitrogen: Mars was once habitable
Mangroves in Florida expanding poleward
Adding to the growing evidence of climate change-induced poleward migration and/or expansion of many fish and terrestrial plant species, a paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal has found a massive expansion of mangroves in Florida. The expansion has been to an extent of more than 3,000 acres … Continue reading Mangroves in Florida expanding poleward
“Functional” blood vessels made from stem cells
A team of scientists has been able to engineer “stable and functional” blood vessels in mice using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells taken from humans. The blood vessels lasted for 280 days in the brain of the mice. The scientists are from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Stem Institute, Harvard University. The skin cells … Continue reading “Functional” blood vessels made from stem cells
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