HIV antibodies treatment

By analyzing the blood of nearly 100 treated and untreated HIV-infected volunteers, a team of scientists has identified previously unknown characteristics of B cells in the context of HIV infection. B cells are the immune system cells that make antibodies to HIV and other pathogens. The findings increase the current understanding of how HIV disease develops and have suggestions for the timing of treatment. Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have found that the  B cells that make antibodies to HIV in infected people, and untreated people are abnormal in that they are more activated, unstable and unresponsive to further stimulation than normal B cells, and also are infrequently observed in healthy people. These findings may help explain why HIV antibodies produced by HIV-infected people do not clear the infection.

NOS Themes:

• Science is reliable
• Science is collaborative
• Science is credible

Linkhttp://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/06/04/scientists_uncover_features_of_antibodyproducing_cells_in_people_infected_with_hiv.html

Ancient Crocodile

Scientists have found a turtle eating, gigantic snake battling, 900 pound, 60 million year old crocodile fossil. So that's pretty awesome. The fossil remains were found in a mine shaft in Moria along with other fossils. Some of which were that of a giant turtles with shells as think as large books. They found four individual fossils in the mine. The main point of this finding is that it is interesting. While not necessarily a major breakthrough, it is definitely very intriguing.

NOS:
Science is Based on Evidence: Four fossils were found. This is evidence.
Role of Chance: By chance they found the fossils in that mine.

Brains Vs. Brawn: a Matter of Evolution?

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140527185347.htm

Brains vs Brawn: A Matter of Evolution?

Scientists working at Shanghai's CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computation Biology, along with some German scientists, were looking into the evolution of metabolites, which are small molecules like sugars and amino acids, and noticed that in humans, the main areas of concentration through the evolutionary course were the brain and the muscles. The scientists noticed that we had much faster metabolic growth in our brains than most primates, and had much more change in metabolites in our muscles than chimpanzees and other primates. After running some strength trials, they had data reflecting how much stronger other primates are compared to us. One of the hypotheses proposed by these scientists was that the metabolic roles of human brain and strength are connected. They stated that there is a possibility that we are sparing energy for a strong brain at the cost of weak muscles.

Nature of Science Themes:

Role of Credibility: Scientists from universities

Scientists Discover Metal Eating Plant

http://www.pensoft.net/news.php?n=384&SESID=def131a9ecff89c651723c2d542ddd1f


Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños have discovered a new plant species (Rinorea niccolifera) that eats up to 18,000 ppm of nickel  into its leaves without  being poisoned. This amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants. This plant may be useful in decontaminating soils.




This plant was found through great collaboration between numerous individuals at the University of the Philippines. There was a large amount of chance also found in this discovery because only about .5% of plants in nickel rich environments exhibit this trait.

3 D printing and blood vessels

Scientists at the Brigham and Women's Hospital have found a way to manufacture artificial blood vessels. This is amazing considering how some blood vessels are so tiny and have such micro capabilities. The scientists used 3-D printing to make the tiny blood vessel channels from a sugar called agarose. Because it is 3-D printed, with a printer and agarose these vessels can be reprinted anywhere. Giving this discovery application to places that might not have the standard blood vessel technology. However, the article didn't describe the functionality of these cells. Are they just simple channels? Or can they respond to injuries and our inflammatory responses we learned about in the bacteria and virus unit? This article is a good example to the GMO debate in our DNA biotechnology unit; should we manufacture artificial biological substances? 

Picture: 

Article link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140530190554.htm

Nature/themes of science:
Science is collaborative- A group of researchers were able to make this 3d-printed discovery.
Role of motivation and curiosity- Researchers might have needed to make blood vessels that weren't available.

The Future of Lung Research?

It is a very sad thing to hear that you have just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Most people do not survive and the only know cure at this point is chemotherapy. Scientists have created an artificial lung no larger than a sugar cube. There is a new program called "Regenerative Technologies for Oncology." They are making tests on a computer program to simulate different body types and different situations in a human body. They made this lung and this program to stop having to do animal tests 75% of the testing on the animals does not work on humans. They are hoping that using this artificial lung will help them better understand ways to treat lung cancer. They also in the future want to stop testing on animals all together considering it hasn't proven to be helpful.







NOS Themes:
- Science is collaborative
- Science is tentative

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/05/29/artificial_lung_the_size_of_a_sugar_cube.html

From Chaos to Order: How Ants Optimize Food Search

Original Article
Other Article

     To a lot of people, ants just wander around randomly; they run into walls, each other, and the occasional food source. While it may appear this way, they actually use highly advanced forms of communication and 'bread crumb' trails to find their way. A Chinese German research group found that there were three main steps ants use to efficiently find food and bring it back to their colony.

     The first step is scouting. This is probably the most qualifying step of 'random' but is still far from it. A scout ant will venture out looking for food. Most scouts go in a circular rotation around the colony, leaving a pheromone trail as they went. We learned a little about pheromones during our animal behavior unit, so it is cool to see it in application again. This pheromone trail is what allows the ants to find their way home, other ants find the source of food, and ensure scouts aren't duplicating search routes. The second step is bringing the food back. As stated before, the ant, once nibbled off a bit of the food to show the rest of the colony, will follow it's pheromone trail home. The last step occurs when the ant returns home. The scout shows it's found food to other ants and they decide as a group if they want to go get the rest of it. It they go, this is where the classic ant line marching takes place. Everyone follows the same pheromone trail there and back and the colony now has food!

     I always like articles where we can see what we learned in class be applied to real scientifically studies, and this is a great example of just that! We did touch a bit about ants in class, but I think this article was a great one to really learn more about the topic and dive in depth to it.

NOS Themes:

Science is Collaborative:  Two teams from two different countries each conducted their own, but similar studies and compared results.
Science is Based on Evidence:  The research teams were actually able to detect the left behind pheromone trail to ensure correct results.
Role of Motivation and Curiosity: It's a life long question many people have; Why do ants move in a line? This study can prove that.

~Ben Johnson

Dystacta tigrifrutex

Dystacta tigrifrutex, also called the tiger mantis, is a newly discovered insect descending from the Praying Mantis. The new species was discovered in Rwanda during an insect survey in the Nyungwe National Park. The scientists performing the survey took one of the new species females into captivity observed it as laid eggs. It is believed that the tiger mantis is specific to this one national park, which gives the researchers more reason to keep the park protected. Dr. Gavin Svenson and Riley Tedrow, two of the scientists who discovered the new species, plan to further their research and go back to the Nyugwe National Forest to study the tiger mantis and hopefully determine more about their whereabouts.

NOS Themes:
science is collaborative
science is based on evidence
role of curiosity

Article Link: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/05/21/tiny_bush_tiger_from_rwanda_a_new_species_of_praying_mantis.html

New Rice Genome Sequences

In honor of World Hunger Day, the 3000 Rice Genome project released to the public the data set of the sequencing of 3000 rice strains. This is the first step in a project to aid in food safety and hunger in poor parts of the world. The new information will be used to breed new kinds of rice that will be able to grow in many different environment, contain more nutrients, and ultimately help feed the starving. Dr. Robert Zeigler, one of the project's researchers, explained that this new advancement will greatly speed up efforts to solve the incoming problems rice farms are starting to face. One of the biggest issues is the environment in which the farmers are growing the rice. These new strains will help researchers to develop breeds of rice that will withstand the harshest conditions. The project released the new data to the public because they believed that it will take much more research than they can do on their own to solve the problems and hope that other scientists will use the data.

NOS Themes:
Science is collaborative
Science is based on evidence

Link to Article: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/05/29/3000_rice_genome_sequences_made_publicly_available_on_world_hunger_day.html

Memories Can Be Erased or Recovered?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140601150633.htm

A group of scientists at the University of California have successfully modified, erased, and reactivated the memories of a group of rats. They were able to do this by selectively weakening or strengthening selected brain stimulus.

They set up this experiment by making the rats afraid of light by giving them a shock every time they saw light. Next, the scientists effectively erased that memory and the rats no longer demonstrated any fear at light. Afterwards, the scientists reactivated the memory and the rats showed fear to the light once again.

This really shows how science can be really cool because I never thought that memories could be altered. I think this definitely broadens the horizon for cures for diseases like Alzheimer's.

NoS Characteristics:
Science is collaborative
Science is based on evidence
Role of motivation and curiosity

Exercise Can Erase Memories

Summary:

Did you know that exercise contributes to forgetting? Recent studies by researchers at the University of 
Toronto show that mice who ran after experiencing an event were most likely to forget it than their counterpart whom did not exercise afterwards. The results suggest that the production of neurogenesis prompted by the exercise wiped out the mice’s memories. This might also explain why human infants, whose brains are abundant in neurogenesis, 
do not have long-term memories. Running is known to boost neurogenesis in mice. Sheena Josselyn and Paul Frankland taught mice to fear a particular environment and then put them on running wheel or do nothing. When the mice were returned to the box after a day or a week, Both groups of animals tended to recognize the now-familiar environment and freeze, a fear response. But if the mice were returned to the box after two weeks or more, only the mice would did not run froze. The exercisers seemed to have forgotten their fears.

NOS Themes: 
Science is collaborative: Sheena Josselyn and Paul Frankland worked with a team from the University of Toronto

Importance of repeatability: the mice were testes for two weeks to see if the running had an affect on their memory

Link:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39915/title/Exercise-Can-Erase-Memories/

Green Tea May Reduce Pancreatic Cancer Risk

In a new study, researchers in the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute have found a new possible benefit of drinking green tea; it may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer. The active biologic constituent in green tea, EGCG, suppresses an enzyme associated with cancer, LDHA. EGCG does this by changing the metabolism of the pancreatic cancer cells. Scientists previously thought they had to use a molecular mechanism to treat cancer, but this shows that that isn't true.



The researchers discovered that the EGCG interrupted the balance of flux in the cell's metabolism. This means that the rate of turnover of molecules through a metabolic pathway is off balance. Oxamate is a material known to do this in a similar fashion to LDHA. Scientists can use this newfound information about these cancer inhibitors to alter the course of cancer or prevent it altogether.

NOS Themes:
- Science is collaborative: the researchers worked at the LA Biomedical Research Institute

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140530133214.htm