ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- Changes in bioelectric signals trigger formation of new organs: Tadpoles made to grow eyes in back, tail
- Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another?
- Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition
- Shedding light on why it is so 'tough' to make healthier hot dogs
- Vampire star reveals its secrets
- Heads up, Kobe Bryant: Researchers discover that trying for another 3-pointer is a mistake
- Computer simulations shed light on the physics of rainbows
- Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances
| Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST For the first time, scientists have altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, biologists were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area. The researchers achieved most surprising results when they manipulated membrane voltage of cells in the tadpole's back and tail, well outside of where the eyes could normally form. |
| Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another? Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:23 PM PST The vast majority of genetic disorders (schizophrenia or breast cancer, for example) have different effects in different people. Moreover, an individual carrying certain mutations can develop a disease, whereas another one with the same mutations may not. This holds true even when comparing two identical twins who have identical genomes. But why does the same mutation have different effects in different individuals? |
| Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST We put a lot of energy into improving our memory, intelligence, and attention. There are even drugs that make us sharper, such as Ritalin and caffeine. But maybe smarter isn't really all that better. A new warns warns that there are limits on how smart humans can get, and any increases in thinking ability are likely to come with problems. |
| Shedding light on why it is so 'tough' to make healthier hot dogs Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST In part of an effort to replace animal fat in hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers and other foods with healthier fat, scientists are reporting an advance in solving the mystery of why hot dogs develop an unpleasant tough texture when vegetable oils pinch hit for animal fat. |
| Vampire star reveals its secrets Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Astronomers have obtained the best images ever of a star that has lost most of its material to a vampire companion. By combining the light captured by telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory they created a virtual telescope 130 meters across with vision 50 times sharper than the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Surprisingly, the new results show that the transfer of mass from one star to the other in this double system is gentler than expected. |
| Heads up, Kobe Bryant: Researchers discover that trying for another 3-pointer is a mistake Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:49 AM PST Researchers shattered the myth that players who score one or more three-pointers improve their odds of scoring another. A new report raises doubts about the ability of athletes in particular, and people in general, to predict future success based on past performance. |
| Computer simulations shed light on the physics of rainbows Posted: 06 Dec 2011 12:15 PM PST Computer scientists who set out to simulate all rainbows found in nature, wound up answering questions about the physics of rainbows as well. The scientists recreated a wide variety of rainbows by using an improved method for simulating how light interacts with water drops of various shapes and sizes. Their new approach even yielded realistic simulations of difficult-to-replicate "twinned" rainbows that split their primary bow in two. |
| Stinky frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotic substances Posted: 30 Nov 2011 07:04 AM PST Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of antibacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections, scientists are reporting. Their research is on amphibians so smelly (like rotten fish, for instance) that scientists term them "odorous frogs." |
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