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Science. Lifespan tripled after injection of cells from young miceInjection made mice grow bigger and strongerEffect on ageing-disorder cells even works in lab dishCould hold key for injections that offer humans 'youthful vigor' By Rob Waugh Updated: 08:24 GMT, 4 January 2012 An experiment proved that a single injection of stem cells could make mice live three times as long.

Scientists think that studying the proteins within stem cells might hold the key to injections that offer a 'shot of youthful vigour' to human beings Stem cells can halt ageing - and even prolong lifespans up to three times, scientists say. An experiment proved that a single injection of stem cells could make mice live three times as long. The injection also made the mice grow bigger and stronger. Scientists think that studying the proteins within stem cells might hold the key to injections that offer a 'shot of youthful vigour' to human beings. The sick, ageing cells performed better after being placed next to the healthy ones. Andrew Hessel - Introduction to Synthetic Biology. Mosquitoes Genetically Modified to Prevent Malaria | Health | English. Silkworms spinning spider webs. (PhysOrg.com) -- A spiders silk is strong and more elastic and has a large range of possible medical applications. However, spiders have a history of being territorial and prone to cannibalism, so the idea of having a large population to produce commercial amounts of silk is not possible.

However, silk worms have been producing their silk commercially for some time. It was this idea that led Professor Don Jarvis from the University of Wyoming to develop a way to genetically modify the silkworm to spin silk with spider protein. The results of this recent research have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

These new genetically modified silkworms are able to produce composite fibers that contain silk threads from both the spider and the silk worm. On average, these fibers have proven stronger than the fibers produced by either the silkworm or the spider. Explore further: How plants become zombies. Biophysicists Discover Four New Rules of DNA 'Grammar'  The Austrian biochemist, Erwin Chargaff, is famous for the two rules he discovered that now bear his name. At the time of this discovery, in 1950, the biggest problem in biology was understanding the structure of DNA. Chargaff’s rules turned out to be an important clue in this puzzle. Biologists had long known that DNA was built out of four molecules: adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. They assumed that these molecules occurred in equal quantity and dismissed any measurements that hinted otherwise as experimental errors.

Chargaff showed through careful measurement that this assumption was wrong. Chargaff’s first parity rule, as this is now called, was an important clue that James Watson and Francis Crick used to develop their base pair model for the double helix structure. Chargaff went on to discover that an approximate version of his rule also holds for most (but not all) single-stranded DNA. Their approach is straightforward. Here’s how. The Hedonistic Imperative. Organ Farm | FRONTLINE. Fighting Fire With Fire: 'Vampire' Bacteria Has Potential as Living Antibiotic. Biomimicry. Biomimicry or biomimetics is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.[1] The terms biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate.

A closely related field is bionics.[2] Over the last 3.6 billion years,[3] nature has gone through a process of trial and error to refine the living organisms, processes, and materials on Earth. The emerging field of biomimetics has given rise to new technologies created from biologically inspired engineering at both the macro scale and nanoscale levels. Biomimetics is not a new idea. History[edit] One of the early examples of biomimicry was the study of birds to enable human flight.

The term biomimicry appeared as early as 1982.[10] Biomimicry was popularized by scientist and author Janine Benyus in her 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Nanobiomimicry[edit] Fabrication[edit] Biologically inspired engineering[edit] Green, Glowing Kittens Contribute to HIV Research, Look Adorable | Discoblog... BioMechanics Lab Creates Next Generation Robotic Snake. The Israeli Military is testing a new generation of robotic snake that is made from independent segments each with its own sensors, power source and processor.

When together, the snake robot is a highly maneuverable object that can move through difficult terrain and scan the place from all angles, but where it really improves upon the previous version is that its segments that can detach themselves from the parent body and perform independent missions. In a urban warfare situation, this snake robot can stealthily sneak inside buildings, scan its interiors and once it has detected its target, it can simply detach one of its segments packed with timed-explosives and leave it behind. The snake robot has been developed by the BioRobotics and BioMechanics Lab (BRML) and will eventually be inducted into the Israel Defense Forces. BioRobotics and BioMechanics Lab [via Dvice] Gecko tape. Stickybot – A Climbing Robot using Synthetic Setae[2] Basic principles[edit] Close view of a gecko's foot Geckos are renowned for their exceptional ability to stick and run on any vertical and inverted surface (excluding Teflon[3]).

However gecko toes are not sticky in the usual way like chemical adhesives. Instead, they can detach from the surface quickly and remain quite clean around everyday contaminants even without grooming. Extraordinary adhesion[edit] The two front feet of a tokay gecko can withstand 20.1 N of force parallel to the surface with 227 mm2 of pad area,[4] a force as much as 40 times the gecko's weight. Micro and nano view of gecko's toe[5] The possibilities finally narrowed down to intermolecular forces, and the development of electron microscopy in the 1950s, which revealed the micro-structure of the setae on the gecko's foot, provided further proof to support this hypothesis. Where and Attach and Detach procedure of gecko's foot[5] Lift-off mechanism[edit] Materials[edit]

Breathing Soil Bacteria Makes You Smarter - Lifestyle. Spending time outdoors has always offered health benefits for the body and the mind: fresh air, clean water, awe-inspiring vistas, peaceful quietude. Now, it turns out, even the dirt is good for you. Scientists at the Sage Colleges of Troy, New York, have discovered that exposure to certain kinds of soil bacteria can reduce anxiety and increase learning capabilities when ingested or inhaled, reports Physorg.com. (Hippies everywhere can rejoice: dirt may actually make you smarter.) The amazing bacterium in question is Mycobacterium vaccae, which occurs naturally in soil and is often breathed in innocuously when people spend time in nature. But decreased anxiety isn't the only effect of increased serotonin, and researchers wanted to investigate further.

After feeding the live bacteria to a group of mice, Matthews and her colleague Susan Jenks subjected the mice to a test of wits with a control group by having them run a maze.