Crows Do Fear the Reaper
Crows have been shown to associate dead bodies of their own kind with danger, and are also known to remember the faces of individual humans who have threatened them.
Radiation Therapy for Skin Cancer: All Wrapped Up in a Bandage
Most of us think of bandages as a way to protect cuts and abrasions against infection. However, recent research shows that a novel radiotherapeutic bandage may help treat squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A group of scientists from the University of North Texas System College of Pharmacy presented their findings at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Scientists Image Metabolites Secreted by Single Cells
Bacteria secrete small molecules for purposes that range from communication to self-defense. These processes are extremely challenging to study in situ because it is nearly impossible to link secreted molecules to specific populations of bacteria let alone individual cells in their natural environment. By combining mass spectrometry-based imaging with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology are able to image secretion patterns of antibiotics and map them onto the FISH profile of the bacterial population that underlies it.
Need an Implant? Just Print It Out
Patients who need a life-saving implant may soon be able to get a customized one from a 3D printer. In the first procedure of its kind, surgeons replaced the sternum and a portion of the rib cage with a 3D-printed titanium sternum and rib implant. The procedure, performed in a 54-year-old Spanish man with a chest wall sarcoma, was reported in a recent issue of the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.
Single Mutations Can Alter Ecosystems to Same Extent as Species Loss
To date most research into what drives the composition of ecosystems has focused on macroevolution, factors such as extinction events, invasion of new species, or large shifts in population abundances. A study in Nature Communications now shows that microevolution — small changes within a single population — is an equally important yet hitherto overlooked shaper of multi-species communities.
Viruses Re-engineered to Do Good
Scientists at Stanford University recently repurposed viruses by removing their infectious machinery and turning them into vehicles for delivering therapies directly to cells. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists found a way to add molecular tags to the viral structure, which would enable them to target the viruses, and hence anything they are carrying, to a specific cell type.
A Non-Invasive Laser Doppler System Detects Malignant Melanoma
A recent study showed that a novel laser Doppler system effectively distinguished skin malignant melanoma from noncancerous moles by detecting subtle differences in blood flow beneath the skin, which may aid in rapid and non-invasive screening of patients.
A New Phage-engineering Platform Allows High-throughput Assembly of Hybrid Viral Genomes in Yeast
Bacteriophages target bacteria with high specificity, a feature that has been exploited for biotechnology and therapeutics. That same exquisite specificity has, however, also been limiting — identifying or engineering phages with new specificities is often a prohibitively time consuming and laborious process. Scientists at MIT have now developed a yeast-based phage-engineering platform that overcomes these hurdles.
Want to Lose Weight? Check with Your Gut Microbiome
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology recently identified how intestinal bacteria interact during metabolism, paving the way to, among other things, possibly personalizing weight-loss diets. The systems biologists developed a computational algorithm that is able to predict how modifying a person’s diet will affect them based on the bacterial and microorganismal composition of their gut microbiome.
Melting Body Fat: Is it In Your Head?
Muscles may not be the only organ that burns body fat. A recent study published in Cell showed that directly stimulating neurons in adipose (fat) tissue may induce breakdown, providing insight on novel therapies to combat obesity.