Our bodies still hold plenty of secrets, and scientists have just uncovered a doozy: the lungs play a key role in producing blood. Until now, this task was ascribed solely to bone marrow, but studies on mice at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have found that, surprisingly, the majority of the body’s platelets...
Category: <span>Miscellaneous</span>
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Scientists have figured out how to stop our bodies from fighting electronic implants
An employee of Digiwell shows a RFID-Chip which can be engrafted in a person’s hand at the CeBIT trade fair, the world’s biggest computer and software fair, in Hannover March 13, 2016. We may dream of one day becoming cyborgs, with RFID chips implanted in our hands or bionic eyes, but the human body won’t necessarily cooperate. Implantable...
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Would YOU choose to live forever? Age-reversing pill that Nasa wants to give to astronauts on Mars will begin human trials within six months
Scientists have discovered a key signalling process in DNA repair They have used this process in the development of a drug to reverse ageing Trials on mice found that the pill repaired DNA damage after a week Nasa wants the new technology to protect its astronauts from solar radiation Scientists have made a discovery that...
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Ever wondered how your mouth moves to make different sounds? Try this strange voice simulator to find out
The ‘Pink Trombone’ app lets users manually change the shape of the mouth Moving the lips, tongue and oral cavity creates different sounds It simulates the physical form and movements of the human vocal tract Ever wondered how you made your first word? This nifty app could show you how. An odd dismembered mouth called ‘Pink...
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Cross-cell transport bears unexpected responsibility for sealing blood-retinal barrier
Suppression of transcytosis (vesicle traffic across cells), shown here as a red glow, seals off the blood-retinal barrier in mice after birth, contrary to previous beliefs that permeability depends mainly on tight junctions between cells. A cellular trafficking system called transcytosis may actually do most of the work in controlling the permeability of the...
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Scientists turn spinach leaf into working heart tissue
Researchers have managed to turn a spinach leaf into working heart tissue and are on the way to solving the problem of recreating the tiny, branching networks of blood vessels in human tissue. Until now, scientists have unsuccessfully tried to use 3D printing to recreate these intricate networks. Now, with this breakthrough, it seems turning...
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Dogs detect breast cancer from bandage: researchers
Dogs can sniff out cancer from a piece of cloth which had touched the breast of a woman with a tumour, researchers said Friday, announcing the results of an unusual, but promising, diagnostic trial. With just six months of training, a pair of German Shepherds became 100-percent accurate in their new role as breast cancer...
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These High-Tech Glasses Will Give You Superhuman Vision
IN BRIEF Researchers have designed filters that allow the human eye to distinguish between color hues that are ordinarily too close to tell apart. These filters could be used to monitor the ripeness of fruits and vegetables or identify counterfeit money. TETRACHROMATIC SHADES It can be impossible for humans to tell apart very similar colors....
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Grandmothers are usually the FIRST to spot autism in children – before parents realize something is wrong
Children who interact with their grandmothers have a quicker autism diagnosis Frequent interactions with grandmothers reduced diagnosis age by 5 months Kids who are around their older siblings are also more quickly diagnosed Parents may think they know their children better than anyone, but a new study warns they may overlook tell-tale signs of autism. In...
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The brain: a radical rethink is needed to understand it
Understanding the human brain is arguably the greatest challenge of modern science. The leading approach for most of the past 200 years has been to link its functions to different brain regions or even individual neurons (brain cells). But recent research increasingly suggests that we may be taking completely the wrong path if we are to ever understand the human mind....