Paralysed rats 'learn to walk' 31 May 2012Last updated at 14:19 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News Rat takes a step while spinal cord is stimulated Paralysed rats have been able to walk again after their spinal cords were bathed in chemicals and zapped with electricity, scientists have shown. An injury to the spinal cord stops the brain controlling the body. The study, in the journal Science, showed injured rats could even learn to sprint with spinal stimulation. Experts said it was an "exceptional study" and that restoring function after paralysis "can no longer be dismissed as a pipedream".
In 2011, a man from Oregon in the US was able to stand up again while his spinal cord was stimulated with electricity. Now researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) say they have restored far more movement in rats which became able to run and climb stairs. 'Reawakening' Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteDr Bryce VisselGarvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.
Ancestral Lines. Evolutionary biologists use a cladogram, the treelike diagram of evolutionary branches or clades, to organize species into lines of evolutionary descent across time. Biologists use three types of evidence to deduce evolutionary connections: genetics, morphology, and geologic dating. (Behavior, normally a key part of evolutionary studies, can only be inferred in extinct species — for example, by examining the ecology in which the species flourished and the species adaptations for eating and locomotion.)
Analyses of primate fossils and the genetic relatedness of living primates converge to the conclusion that humans and chimpanzees branched from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago. DNA recovered from several uncontaminated Neanderthalensis fossils indicated that modern humans and extinct neanderthals diverged about 400,000 years ago; but more recent studies show that they must have interbred within Europe or the Middle East since then.
Swiss Scientists Rewire Injured Spinal Cords, Paralyzed Rats Walk Again. Here at GeekTech, we’ve seen lots of contraptions to help the disabled regain some of their mobility. Now, a group of Swiss scientists from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have found a way to rewire the spinal cord of rats after a paralyzing injury. This rat (pictured above) was just paralyzed a few weeks prior and is now running on a treadmill. The team accomplished this impressive medical feat with an extensive treatment of electro-chemical therapy and training with the help of a robotic harness. The treatment starts with a round of injections that contain a chemical solution of monoamine agonists to rouse the dormant spinal cord nerves. These chemicals are used to replace the neurotransmitters (dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin receptors) that normally triggered the brainstem.
Once the chemicals have excited the spinal cord neurons, the scientists start electrically stimulating the spinal cord with implanted electrodes. [EPFL via Popular Science] Like this? Darwin Pond. Piezoelectric speaker will let researchers talk with dolphins. A team of Japanese researchers from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology may become the first people to communicate with dolphins using their own language. Dolphins, with many human-like social and sexual traits, are often regarded as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. The problem is, despite our own vast intelligence, we don’t actually know how intelligent dolphins (or monkeys or pigs or crows) are because we can’t understand their language. Encoded in those whistles, burst-pulse sounds, and clicks, dolphins might regularly discuss calculus and astrophysics — we just don’t know.
Now, however, Japanese researchers have developed a “dolphin speaker,” which seems to be the first underwater device that is capable of producing the full range of dolphin sounds (pictured right). While the human voice generally ranges from 300Hz to 3KHz, and human hearing ranges from 10Hz to 20KHz, dolphins can produce and hear sounds up to 150KHz. Scientists create 'artificial life' - Americas. Scientists, for the first time, have created an organism controlled by man-made DNA. Craig Venter, an American biologist, announced at a press conference on Thursday that he had synthesised an artificial strain of DNA and used it to take control of a cell. "[It's] the first self-replicating species we've had on the planet whose parent is a computer," Venter said.
"This is a philosophical advance as much as a technical one. " Venter and his colleagues modified the DNA of a Mycoplasma, a kind of bacteria, creating a final strand composed of roughly one million "base pairs," the components which make up DNA. The human genome, by comparison, contains more than three billion base pairs. The scientists then injected the synthetic DNA into another Mycoplasma bacterium, which had already had its DNA removed. The bacterium began to grow and reproduce, though some of the synthesized genes didn't work properly. Exxon contract. Inner Life of The Cell. Another creationist list of lies : Pharyngula.
Cancer.png (PNG Image, 600x3149 pixels) - Scaled (20%) The Disappearing Male. Scientists make cancer cells vanish. Custom byline text: EXCLUSIVE: Helen Puttick, Health Correspondent The system, developed at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities, is being hailed as a breakthrough because it appears to eradicate tumours without causing harmful side-effects. A leading medical journal has described the results so far as remarkable, while Cancer Research UK said they were encouraging.
Dr Christine Dufes, a lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and leader of the research, said: “The tumours were completely gone within 10 days. It is fantastic. Researchers around the world are trying to find ways to use genes as a cancer treatment, but one problem is ensuring they attack the tumour without destroying healthy tissue.
In laboratory experiments the Strathclyde research team used a plasma protein called transferrin, which carries iron through the blood, to deliver the therapeutic DNA to the right spot.