Invisibility Cloak Made From Silk

For thousands of years people have worn shimmering silk to stand out in a crowd. Within the next few years people could wear silk to become invisible in a a crowd.

For the first time ever, scientists have created an invisibility cloak made from silk, and coated in gold.

The new metamaterial, as invisibility cloaks and their kin are technically called, only works on relatively long terahertz waves (a region of the electromagnetic spectrum between radio and infrared light), but the Boston-area scientists who developed the technology think that silk could work as an invisibility cloak at much smaller wavelengths, even in the visible range.

The research could lead to a wide range of optically unique materials for use in biomedicine or defense.

"This is an unusual angle for a metamaterial because of silk's ability to interface with the human body," something that no other metamaterial is currently capable of, said Fiorenzo Omenetto, a scientist at Tufts University who, along with colleagues at Boston University, helped develop the silk-based metamaterial and detail their new research in the journal Advanced Materials.

"On the sensing side it gives you a platform that is very adaptable."

Invisibility cloaks, along with their optically exotic cousins, perfect absorbers and perfect reflectors and others, belong to a special class of materials known as metamaterials. Unlike most materials, which derive optical properties like color from their chemical make up, metamaterials derive their properties from the physical structure.

A curly cue, or short spiral, is a common metamaterial structure. Scientists call them split ring resonators, or SSRs. Usually scrawled into metals, SSR can give ordinary materials extraordinary abilities, like absorbing or reflecting all the specific wavelengths of light, or bending a wavelength around an object.

To create their silk-based metamaterial, the Tufts and Boston University scientists, including Richard Averitt, started with a one-centimeter-square piece of silkworm silk. (In another recent paper, Omenetto's colleague and another co-author of the Advanced Material's paper, David Kaplan of Tufts, created silk-producing bacteria.) Onto that tiny piece of dielectric silk they stenciled 10,000 gold resonators.

Ordinarily when silk is exposed to terahertz waves they pass straight through it. When the new silk metamaterial was subjected to T-rays the scientists detected a resonance.

A metamaterial that works in the terahertz range is nothing new. But, unlike other metamaterials, silk is biocompatable -- the human body won't reject silk-based implants the way it does with most other materials. The scientists implanted the patterned silk into a muscle, and still detected a resonance.

The new silk research is "interesting," said Douglas Werner, a metamaterial scientist at Pennsylvania State University. "There is a lot of interest in using flexible substrates for metamaterials, and silk is a good candidate for that."

The potential applications of silk-based invisibility are huge. Omenetto and his colleagues at Tufts aren't even focused on Harry Potter or Star Trek-style invisibility materials, although he says that is one potential application.

Their main focus is in biomedical applications. One of the first biomedical uses could be as an implantable glucose sensor for diabetics. As the level of glucose changes inside the body, it changes the silk. Then as the silk changes, do does the metamaterial printed on the silk. That change would then be relayed to the person's cell phone; no needle prick necessary.

Silk-based invisibility would also allow doctors and radiologists to cloak various organs or tissues and see through them, said Omenetto, getting a better image of the organs or tissues usually hidden behind.

Source <news.discovery.com>

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Chocolate is HEALTHY !!!!!

Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are from flavonoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.

Heart Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are:

• Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure.
• Lower Cholesterol: Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.

Other Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Chocolate also holds benefits apart from protecting your heart:

• it tastes good
• it stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure
• it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant
• it contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants

Source <longevity.about.com>

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Natural Viagra: Brazilian Spider Bite Causes Hours-Long Erection

A Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital.

Its venom stimulates an hours-long erection. Now scientists have figured out the chemical that seems to be responsible for the penis boost.

In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite from the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer).

Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also sport an uncomfortable erection.

"The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort," said study team member Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia, presumably speaking only about male bite victims. "We're hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction."


Source <www.foxnews.com>

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Why Does Scratching Feel So Good?

Have you ever wondered why scratching an itch feels so good?

Well, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina may have finally answered that burning question.

“Our study shows for the first time how scratching may relieve itch,” said lead author Dr. Gil Yosipovitch in a news release.

“It’s important to understand the mechanism of relief so we can develop more effective treatments. For some people, itch is a chronic condition that affects overall health.”

For the study, researchers used functional magnetic response imaging (MRI) technology to monitor 13 healthy volunteers while they scratched on their lower leg with a small brush. The scratching went on for 30 seconds and was then stopped for 30 seconds — for a total of about five minutes.

“To our surprise, we found that areas of the brain associated with unpleasant or aversive emotions and memories became significantly less active during the scratching,” said Yosipovitch. “We know scratching is pleasurable, but we haven’t known why. It’s possible that scratching may suppress the emotional components of itch and bring about its relief.”

The reduced brain activity occurred in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area associated with aversion to unpleasant sensory experiences, and the posterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with memory. When participants reported that the scratching felt most intense, activation in these areas was lowest.

“This is the first real scientific evidence showing that itch may be inhibited by scratching,” he said. “Of course, scratching is not recommended because it can damage the skin. But understanding how the process works could lead to new treatments. For example, drugs that deactivate this part of the brain might be effective.”

Source <www.foxnews.com>

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Patient shocks surgeons with green blood

Surgeons operating on a 42-year-old Canadian man got a shock when they discovered dark-green blood coursing through his arteries, like Star Trek's Mr Spock.

Stunned, the medical team immediately sent his blood for analysis. The test revealed the blood discolouration was caused by sulfhaemoglobinaemia, which occurs when a sulphur atom gets incorporated into the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin protein in blood.

Doctors suspected that the patient's migraine medication caused the condition. "It is possible that our patient's arguably excessive intake of sumatriptan, which contains a sulfonamide group, caused his sulfhaemoglobinaemia," they say.

Gradual recovery

"The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after discharge. When seen five weeks after his last dose, he was found to have no sulfhaemoglobin in his blood," they added.

The Canadian doctors explain that sulfhaemoglobinaemia usually goes away as red blood cells regenerate. In very extreme cases a transfusion might be necessary, they say.

Mr Spock's green Vulcan blood was supposed to have been caused by copper replacing the iron in haemoglobin.

Source <www.newscientist.com>

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New hope for HIV vaccine efforts

By Helen Briggs
Health reporter, BBC News

The HIV virus fusing with a T cell

US researchers say they are a step closer to understanding why some people have natural protection against HIV.

They believe rare individuals who progress very slowly to AIDs when infected make white blood cells that are better at fighting the virus.
The findings, published in Nature, may help international efforts to design an effective AIDS vaccine.
But the research team at MIT and Harvard says any such vaccine is at least a decade away.
The findings relate to so-called "elite controllers" - a small number of people who, when exposed to HIV, progress very slowly to AIDS or never develop it at all.

It shows another piece in the puzzle of what we want a vaccine to do Prof Arup Chakraborty

In the late 1990s it was discovered that these individuals - about one in 200 of those infected with HIV - carry a specific gene, known as HLA B57.
The research team, led by MIT Professor Arup Chakraborty and Harvard Professor Bruce Walker, found this gene causes the body to make more potent killer T cells - a type of white blood cell that fights infections.
This helps them to keep the HIV virus at bay, but also makes them more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, where the body's immune system turns on itself.
The work is based on computer modelling of how immune cells develop in a specialised organ of the immune system known as the thymus.
Vaccine puzzle
The researchers say the study has implications for designing an effective vaccine.
It could help them develop vaccines that provoke the same response to HIV that individuals with "natural immunity" can do on their own.
But they say even if they knew exactly what vaccine they wanted to make, it would take at least a decade to reach the hands of a healthcare worker.
Prof Bruce Walker told the BBC: "Some people are able to control HIV on their own and it's really critical for us to understand how this happens. This study takes us a step forward in understanding that."
Prof Chakraborty added: "It shows another piece in the puzzle of what we want a vaccine to do."
Genetic defences
Commenting on the study, Jason Warriner, Clinical Director at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "Anything that gives us greater insight into genetic defences related to HIV is useful in searching for a vaccine and, one day, a cure for this complex virus.
"However, these elite controllers are a tiny proportion of people and they are not immune from HIV-related illnesses.
"HIV remains the UK's fastest-growing serious health condition, with 83,000 people affected, so it is vital that people continue to use condoms to protect themselves."
The study is published online in the journal Nature.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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Your fat may help you heal

It frequently happens in science that what you throw away turns out to be most valuable. It happened to Deepak Nagrath, but not for long.
The Rice assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering was looking for ways to grow cells in a scaffold, and he discarded the sticky substance secreted by the cells.
"I thought it was contamination, so I threw the plates away," said Nagrath, then a research associate at Harvard Medical School.

Nagrath, who joined Rice in 2009, and his co-authors have since built a biological scaffold that allows cells to grow and mature. He hopes the new material, when suffused with stem cells, will someday be injected into the human body, where it can repair tissues of many types without fear of rejection.
The research by Nagrath and his co-authors appeared last week in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal.
The basic idea is simple: Prompt fat cells to secrete what bioengineers call "basement membrane." This membrane mimics the architecture tissues naturally use in cell growth, literally a framework to which cells attach while they form a network. When the cells have matured into the desired tissue, they secrete another substance that breaks down and destroys the scaffold.
Structures that support the growth of living cells into tissues are highly valuable to pharmaceutical companies for testing drugs in vitro. Companies commonly use Matrigel, a protein mixture secreted by mouse cancer cells, but for that reason it can't be injected into patients.
"Fat is one thing that is in excess in the body. We can always lose it," Nagrath said. The substance derived from the secretions, called Adipogel, has proven effective for growing hepatocytes, the primary liver cells often used for pharmaceutical testing.
"My approach is to force the cells to secrete a natural matrix," he said. That matrix is a honey-like gel that retains the natural growth factors, cytokines (substances that carry signals between cells) and hormones in the original tissue.
Nagrath's strategy for growing cells isn't the only approach being pursued, even at Rice: Another method reported last week in Nature Nanotechnology uses magnetic levitation to grow three-dimensional cell cultures.

But Nagrath is convinced his strategy is ultimately the most practical for rebuilding tissue in vivo, and not only because it may cost significantly less than Matrigel. "The short-term goal is to use this as a feeder layer for human embryonic stem cells. It's very hard to maintain them in the pluripotent state, where they keep dividing and are self-renewing," he said.
Once that goal is achieved, Adipogel may be just the ticket for transplanting cells to repair organs. "You can use this matrix as an adipogenic scaffold for stem cells and transplant it into the body where an organ is damaged. Then, we hope, these cells and the Adipogel can take over and improve their functionality."
Source <www.scienceblog.com>

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Thicker brains fend off pain

Montreal, February 24, 2010 – People can reduce their sensitivity to pain by thickening their brain, according to a new study published in a special issue of the American Psychological Association journal, Emotion. Researchers from the Université de Montréal made their discovery by comparing the grey matter thickness of Zen meditators and non-meditators. They found evidence that practicing the centuries-old discipline of Zen can reinforce a central brain region (anterior cingulate) that regulates pain.

"Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex and this appears to be underlie their lower sensitivity to pain," says lead author Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the Université de Montréal Department of Physiology and Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. "We found a relationship between cortical thickness and pain sensitivity, which supports our previous study on how Zen meditation regulates pain."

As part of this study, scientists recruited 17 meditators and 18 non-meditators who in addition had never practiced yoga, experienced chronic pain, neurological or psychological illness. Grant and his team, under the direction of Pierre Rainville of the Université de Montréal and the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, measured thermal pain sensitivity by applying a heated plate to the calf of participants and followed by scanning the brains of subjects with structural magnetic resonance imaging. According to MRI results, central brain regions that regulate emotion and pain were significantly thicker in meditators compared to non-meditators.

"The often painful posture associated with Zen meditation may lead to thicker cortex and lower pain sensitivity," says Grant, noting that meditative practices could be helpful in general for pain management, for preventing normal age-related grey matter reductions or potentially for any condition where the grey matter is compromised such as stroke.

Source< www.eurekaalert.org >

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THE IMMORTALITY ENZYME

As the human body ages, it loses bone. Individual cells lose something equally vital. Every time one divides, it sheds tiny snippets of DNA known as telomeres, which serve as protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. After perhaps a hundred divisions, a cell's telomeres become so truncated that its chromosomes--site of the cell's genes--begin to fray, rather like shoelaces that have lost their plastic tips. Eventually, such aged cells die--unless, like "immortal" cancer cells, they produce telomerase, an enzyme that protects and even rebuilds telomeres. Scientists have long dreamed of drugs that would inhibit the immortalizing enzyme because, observes M.I.T. biochemist Robert Weinberg, "then maybe cancer cells would run out of telomeres and just poop out."

Wishful thinking? Maybe not. In papers published just a week apart in the journals Science and Cell, two teams of researchers--one led by Nobel-prizewinning biochemist Thomas Cech of the University of Colorado, the other by M.I.T.'s Weinberg--have announced a breakthrough that could help bring about such a drug. Both teams have managed to clone a gene that controls the activity of the telomerase enzyme in human cells. That could set the stage for development not only of inhibiting drugs but also of substances that switch on the enzyme--which might help combat degenerative diseases associated with aging.

Such possibilities, to be sure, are speculative, but that didn't stop Wall Street, where the stock of Geron Corp., a small biotech company based in Menlo Park, Calif., that helped Cech's group discover the gene, more than doubled, to 1618 a share. In fact, Geron researchers have been looking for antitelomerase compounds for several years, using indirect-screening methods. Because tumor cells--the main source of the human enzyme--produce it in vanishingly small quantities, the scientists lacked pure telomerase, which could have sped the search for drugs that might be used against it.

With the new gene in hand, the researchers should be able to churn out at will the protein for which it provides the genetic blueprint. That protein, they believe, is telomerase's most important building block. "For us," exults Calvin Harley, Geron's chief scientist, "it's like having access to an organism's brain."

The new protein, it turns out, bears an intriguing resemblance to an enzyme produced by HIV, the retrovirus that causes AIDS. Indeed, the AIDS drug AZT has already been shown to inhibit telomerase activity. But the viral enzyme and the human enzyme, says Colorado's Cech, are only 20% identical, which explains why AZT is not an ideal telomerase inhibitor. "What we want," he declares, "is a compound that fits telomerase the way a hand fits a glove."

The odds that such a compound will materialize now seem high. But experts caution that it could take years before the first telomerase inhibitors are ready to be tested on humans to determine if they'll have any serious side effects--or if they'll actually inhibit tumor growth. Such questions are perhaps one reason Geron's stock leveled off at week's end, closing at 12 1/4 a share.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986922,00.html#ixzz0cZsIm6Hv

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Star Anise: The Secret Ingredient in Tamiflu

With the onslaught of swine flu throughout the global community, there is a new push towards acquiring and stockpiling drugs that can be used to treat potentially lethal strains of influenza.

According to medical science there is a pharmaceutical treatment option available called Tamiflu, that they say will treat swine flu.

But little do consumers know that there is a natural component within this mass-produced pharmaceutical. And what is this powerful ingredient? None other than the common herb star anise.

In fact, most people are unaware that over 40% of all pharmaceutical medications come from plant botanicals, including everything from common aspirin to powerful cancer-fighting medications such as tamoxifen.<sup>[1]

Whole story here</sup>

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Self-Renewal of Specialized Cells

Is the indefinite expansion of adult cells possible without recourse to stem cell intermediates?

The team led by Michael Sieweke at the Centre d'immunologie de Marseille Luminy (Université Aix-Marseille 2 / CNRS / INSERM) has shown that this is the case by achieving the ex vivo regeneration of macrophages, specialized cells in the immune system, over several months.

Published in Science on November 6, 2009, this discovery could be applied to other cell types. This research enables a clearer understanding of the mechanisms underlying cell differentiation, but above all raises many hopes for potential therapeutic applications.

The regenerative medicine of the future will be based on replacing damaged cells and repairing deficient organs, notably through the use of stem cells. Indeed, these cells are able not only to proliferate indefinitely but, in theory, to supply all types of cells to the human body.

However, the processes that allow the passage from adult (rather than embryonic) cells to stem cells ("reprogramming") are complex and full of risk, as are the processes necessary for the "retransformation" of stem cells into adult cells. The question then arises: might it not be more simple to generate the cells required without passing through the stem cell stage?

Whole Story Here

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Australian scientists to start 'breast regrowth' trial

It is hoped that if successful, the experimental stem cell breast-growing technique - called Neopec - could replace breast reconstructions and implants within three years.

Dr Phillip Marzella from the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery in Melbourne, said a prototype trial of five to six women would start in the next three to six months "to demonstrate that the body can regrow its own fat supply in the breast".

During the world-first trial surgeons will implant a chamber containing a sample of the woman's fat tissue into the chest, which will act a "scaffolding" into which new breast tissue will grow.

"What we are hoping to do in the next two years is develop a biodegradable chamber so that the fat can grow inside the chamber and then the chamber will vanish naturally," Dr Marzella said.

"Nature abhors a vacuum, so the chamber itself, because it is empty, it tends to be filled in by the body."

Dr Marzella said the new breasts would feel normal to the patient.

Whole Story Here

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How Can a Pregnant Woman Get Pregnant Again?

An Indonesian woman gave birth to a 19-lb. 2-oz. baby behemoth on Sept. 24, but that was only the second weirdest pregnancy tale of the month. The strangest belongs to Julia Grovenburg, a 31-year-old Arkansas woman who has a double pregnancy. No, not twins — Grovenburg became pregnant twice, two weeks apart. Isn't that supposed to be impossible?

Almost. There have been only 10 recorded cases of the phenomenon, dubbed superfetation. In Grovenburg's case, she became pregnant first with a girl (whom she has decided to name Jillian) and then two weeks later with a boy (Hudson). The babies have separate due dates — Jillian on Dec. 24, Hudson on Jan. 10. (See pictures of pregnant-belly art.)

Dr. Robert Atlas, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Baltimore's Mercy Hospital, says he has never encountered a case of superfetation during practice. He says such pregnancies occur when a woman continues ovulating after becoming pregnant and when that second, fertilized egg is able to implant itself in the lining of the womb — two things that wouldn't happen in a normal pregnancy. Typically, hormonal changes prevent further ovulation and thicken the lining of the uterus to preclude a second embryo from attaching. Why didn't that happen with Grovenburg? No one's really sure. (See how to prevent illness at any age.)

Despite the rarity of Grovenburg's case, Atlas tells TIME the phenomenon shouldn't be cause for concern. Grovenburg's babies should behave much as twins do; in all likelihood, the second baby will be born slightly premature when Julia first goes into labor. Since the difference between the babies is only two weeks, the second baby will be nearly at full term anyway. Indeed, the last known case of superfetation had a happy ending. In 2007, a British woman gave birth to a boy and girl who were conceived three weeks apart, with no undue complications.

Source www.time.com
.

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Why 'Sleeping on It' Helps

We're often told, "You should sleep on it" before you make an important decision. Why is that? How does "sleeping on it" help your decision-making process?
Conventional wisdom suggests that by "sleeping on it," we clear our minds and relieve ourselves of the immediacy (and accompanying stress) of making a decision. Sleep also helps organize our memories, process the information of the day, and solve problems. Such wisdom also suggests that conscious deliberation helps decision making in
general. But new research (Dijksterhuis et al., 2009) suggests something else might also be at work - our unconscious.

Previous research suggests that sometimes the more consciously we think about a decision, the worse the decision made. Sometimes what's needed is a period of unconscious thought - equivalent to "sleeping on it" according to the researchers - in order to make better decisions.

Here's how they study this phenomenon:
"[... In a] typical experiment demonstrating this effect, participants choose between a few objects (e.g., apartments), each described by multiple aspects. The objects differ in desirability, and after reading the descriptions, participants are asked to make their choice following an additional period of conscious thought or unconscious thought. In the original experiments, unconscious thinkers made better decisions than conscious thinkers when the decisions were complex."

The researchers suggest that unconscious thought, contrary to the way many of us think about it, is an active, goal-directed thought process. The primary difference is that in unconscious thought, the usual biases that are a part of our conscious thinking are absent. In unconscious thought, we weigh the importance of the components that make up our decision more equally, leaving our preconceptions at the door of consciousness.


Whole story here

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Curry spice 'kills cancer cells'

An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have shown.

The chemical - curcumin - has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.

Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab.

Cancer experts said the findings in the British Journal of Cancer could help doctors find new treatments.

Dr Sharon McKenna and her team found that curcumin started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

'Natural' remedy

The cells also began to digest themselves, after the curcumin triggered lethal cell death signals.

Dr McKenna said: "Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value."

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: "This is interesting research which opens up the possibility that natural chemicals found in turmeric could be developed into new treatments for oesophageal cancer.

"Rates of oesophageal cancer have gone up by more than a half since the 70s and this is thought to be linked to rising rates of obesity, alcohol intake and reflux disease so finding ways to prevent this disease is important too."

Each year around 7,800 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in the UK. It is the sixth most common cause of cancer death and accounts for around five percent of all UK cancer deaths

Source http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8328377.stm

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New robotic hand 'can feel'

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'Magnetic' stem cells for hearts

Heart attacks and other vascular injuries could eventually be treated using regular injections of magnetised stem cells, experts say.

In animal trials, the cutting-edge treatment delivered the healing cells to the precise site of damage where their help was needed.

Although human tests are needed, a similar magnetic approach has been used to guide cancer therapies.

The expert US journal Cardiovascular Interventions reports the findings.

Targeted treatment

The idea behind the targeted therapy is to get as many of the reparative stem cells as possible to the area of damage.

To achieve this the UK scientists coated the stem cells with minute magnetic particles.

When these stem cells were injected into the blood stream it was then possible to control their movement using a magnet.

In trials, the magnetic targeting led to a five-fold increase in cell localisation at a site of vascular injury in rats.

“ We await further research to find out if, as well as increasing the chances of these cells getting to where they are needed, this strategy can actually speed up the repair process ”
The British Heart Foundation's Professor Peter Weissberg

These same magnetic nanoparticles are already approved in the US where they are routinely used as an agent to make MRI scans clearer to read.

Senior author of the study Dr Mark Lythgoe, of University College London, said this meant human trials could begin within the next few years.

Whole story here

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Comfort Food: Chocolate, Water Reduce Pain Response To Heat

People often eat food to feel better, but researchers have found that eating chocolate or drinking water can blunt pain, reducing a rat's response to a hot stimulus. This natural form of pain relief may help animals in the wild avoid distraction while eating scarce food, but in modern humans with readily available food, the effect may contribute to overeating and obesity.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience by authors Peggy Mason, PhD, professor of neurobiology, and Hayley Foo, PhD, research associate professor of neurobiology at the University of Chicago, is the first to demonstrate that this powerful painkilling effect occurs while the animals are ingesting food or liquid even in the absence of appetite.

"It's a strong, strong effect, but it's not about hunger or appetite," Mason said. "If you have all this food in front of you that's easily available to reach out and get, you're not going to stop eating, for basically almost any reason."

Whole story here

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Juggling Boosts Brain Connections

Researchers the UK found that learning to juggle boosts brain connections by making structural changes in the white matter of the brain. They hope the study will help develop new treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis where central nervous system pathways have become degraded.

The study was led by Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg, a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the University of Oxford and was published online ahead of print on 11 October in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Johansen-Berg told the media that:

"We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood."

"In fact we find the structure of the brain is ripe for change. We've shown that it is possible for the brain to condition its own wiring system to operate more efficiently," she added.

Our brains' white matter contains bundles of long fibres that carry electrical impulses from nerve cell to nerve cell. It is a massive and dense network of lines and junctions. In contrast our brains' grey matter comprises mostly nerve cell bodies and busies itself with processing and computation.

Full story: here

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Jaw bone created from stem cells

Scientists have created part of the jaw joint in the lab using human adult stem cells.

They say it is the first time a complex, anatomically-sized bone has been accurately created in this way.

It is hoped the technique could be used not only to treat disorders of the specific joint, but more widely to correct problems with other bones too.

The Columbia University study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The bone which has been created in the lab is known as the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)

Whole story here

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