Health. NASA Discovers New Life: Arsenic Bacteria With DNA Completely Alien To What We Know. 2:57 PM ET Press Conference Has Ended NASA concludes the press conference by saying future discoveries could be on the horizon: "Science never sleeps. " 2:55 PM ET Experiment Conducted In A Lab NASA explains how the experiment was conducted: "The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic.
When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. 2:43 PM ET Practical Application Of The Organism Scientists say that one practical application is using this organism to treat toxic waste dumps that are filled with arsenic. 2:38 PM ET This Had Been Theorized Before One of the scientists speaking at the conference, Felisa Wolfe-Simon, had written a paper "Did Nature also choose arsenic? " 2:36 PM ET More Ideas To Test. Scientist creates lifelike cells out of metal. Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element? One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible.
The discovery opens the door to the possibility that there may be life forms in the universe not based on carbon, reports New Scientist. Even more remarkable, Cronin has hinted that the metal-based cells may be replicating themselves and evolving. "I am 100 percent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology," he said. The high-functioning "cells" that Cronin has built are constructed from large polyoxometalates derived from a range of metal atoms, like tungsten. The metallic bubbles are certainly cell-like, but are they actually alive? The early results have been encouraging. MIT Creates New Energy Source.
This is some pretty exciting news. It seems that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the most prestigious science and engineering schools in the United States, has created a new energy source -- and it's clean and renewable. The odd thing is that the only way you can see this energy source is with a very powerful microscope, because it is created by using nanotechnology. For a few years now, we have been hearing about the possibilities offered by the new field of nanotechnology. Now it looks like the first usable breakthrough has been accomplished. MIT has devised a process to generate electricity using nanotechnology. And this new process may soon revolutionize batteries for all kind of devices. The researchers built tiny wires out of carbon nanotubes. The nanotechnology batteries will have a couple of other advantages over current batteries.
Second, these batteries are non-toxic since they are made of carbon. Link to original post.
Space Exploration. Radical new birth control for men: 100% effective for 10 years. When it comes to birth control, it's a lot harder figuring out how to stop a bajillion little sperm than one little egg, but a scientist in India has managed to develop an injection for men that has so far proven to be 100% effective and completely reversible with no side effects. Sign me up. The injection is called RISUG, which stands for "reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance. " Let's just get the uncomfortable bit out of the way first: you can't just be injected anywhere, the doctor has to stick a needle into your scrotum. Twice. Yeah, bad times, but you'll deal, and here's why: after two tiny injections taking all of 15 minutes, study after study has shown that the injection is 100% effective at preventing pregnancy. You won't suffer any side effects at all, it lasts a minimum of 10 years, and it's completely reversible with another few injections. So why is this not available yet?
RISUG, via Wired. Weight Loss Discovery Making National Headlines. Last Updated: 4/06/2014 20:52 PST Did you know you can lose weight without traditional dieting? That’s what one new weight loss product wants you to believe. It’s called the SENSA® Weight Loss System, and it’s one of the most talked-about weight loss products on the market today – featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and Dateline NBC. SENSA® boldly claims to help users lose weight. Supposedly all users have to do is shake scented "Tastants" on their food, and watch the weight come off.
We were skeptical to say the least. The SENSA® Weight Loss System goes against everything we’ve been taught about losing weight, so we dug a little deeper to find out the truth about SENSA®. Our intrigue and skepticism soon turned to excitement as we uncovered what could be the future weapon in the war on obesity. Is SENSA® the Celebrity Weight Loss Secret? Featured in sources like Harper’s Bazaar and Dateline NBC, the media-sphere can’t seem to get enough of SENSA®. This article sponsored by Sensa. Researcher: oxygen free radicals don't cause aging. 'Bullet-Proof Skin', Made With Spider Silk And Goat's Milk, Created By Scientists. Imagine having a gun fired at you, the bullet whizzing toward you at a super-fast speed. But instead of the bullet piercing your skin and traveling deep inside your body, what if it instead repelled off your skin?
What sounds like a scenario straight out of a superhero movie or a sci-fi novel could eventually become reality. Scientists have created a skin made with goat's milk packed with spider-silk proteins, according to news reports. Their hope is that they can eventually replace the keratin in human skin -- which makes it tough -- with the spider-silk proteins. To make the bullet-proof material, Dutch scientists first engineered goats to produce milk that contains proteins from extra-strong spider silk. Then, using the milk from the goats, they spun a bullet-proof material; a layer of real human skin is then grown around that skin, a process that takes five weeks, the Daily Mail reported. "Science-fiction?
Does it work? Here's why you NEED aerobic exercise. Let’s face it. Cardio is boring. Running laps around a track or pedaling away like some spandex wearing gerbil…..Boring. But,according to the authors of this new study, “your personal aerobic fitness is not something you will see in the mirror but it is an important predictor of your long-term health,” “The most important part of physical activity is protecting yourself from diseases that can be fatal or play a significant role in increasing the risk factors for other metabolic diseases.” The Study Fatty Liver For years, we have known that poor aerobic fitness is associated with obesity, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The study also suggests that the resulting liver problems play a crucial step developing obesity-related illnesses. So, to test the link between aerobic fitness and fatty liver disease, the researcher bred a strain of genetically unfit rats.
Conclusion Aerobic exercise is boringAerobic exercise prevents fatty liver diseaseYou don’t want fatty liver disease, soGet movin’ Scientists discover the Couch Potato gene. A group of researchers, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, have mapped out 23 specific chromosomal locations that account for 84% of the behavioral differences between low activity (see lazy) mice and high activity mice (see type A super achievers) – sorry, no human tests yet. Link to Study # 1 Link to Study # 2 Initially, the researchers thought that the difference between the lazy and active mice was due to a genetic effect on the way energy is used by the muscle tissue.
This was proven false. Okay then, moving on. This led the researchers to look at how genetic differences in brain chemistry might be causing this propensity towards laziness. Success! The Studies The first thing the researchers did was to interbreed the active mice with the lazy mice. Genetic tests were performed on the mice and strong correlations were found between the differences in the their genomes and their test results.
So what does this mean? How depressing. Thanks in Advance. Scientists Discover How to Create "Anti-Obesity" Brown Fat. Brown Fat Mitochondria or Modern Art? Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have been researching ways to generate fat loss by stimulating brown fat production. In a recent study (published in Nature), they have shown that a protein called BMP-7 can promote the development of brown fat. This is good news. While the white fat cells that cover our doughy North American bodies are seen as the bane of our collective overweight existence, their brown fat cousins are superstars at burning calories.
What? Yep. You read that right. The primary function of brown fat is to generate body heat. In contrast to white fat cells, which contain a single lipid (fat) droplet, brown adipocytes contain numerous smaller droplets and a much higher number of mitochondria. But more importantly, the main role of brown fat is to burn calories by generating heat. Sadly, brown fat cells largely disappear by adulthood in humans, but their precursors still remain in the body. Brown Fat Distribution Patterns - Adult / Baby. TED: Ideas worth spreading.