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Saturday, April 12, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Computer rendering: Graduate student brings extinct plants 'back to life'

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 12:38 PM PDT

Most fossilized plants are fragments indistinguishable from a stick, but a graduate student hopes a new technique will allow paleontologists to more precisely identify these fossils. A graduate student showed the power of this technique by turning a 375 million-year-old lycopod fossil into a life-like rendering.

Appearance of night-shining clouds has increased

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT

First spotted in 1885, silvery blue clouds sometimes hover in the night sky near the poles, appearing to give off their own glowing light. Known as noctilucent clouds, this phenomenon began to be sighted at lower and lower latitudes -- between the 40th and 50th parallel -- during the 20th century, causing scientists to wonder if the region these clouds inhabit had indeed changed -- information that would tie in with understanding the weather and climate of all Earth.

Greenland ice cores show industrial record of acid rain, success of US Clean Air Act

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 06:18 AM PDT

Detailed ice core measurements show smog-related ratios leveling off in 1970, and suggest these deposits are sensitive to the same chemicals that cause acid rain. By analyzing samples from the Greenland ice sheet, atmospheric scientists found clear evidence of the U.S. Clean Air Act. They also discovered a link between air acidity and how nitrogen is preserved in layers of snow.

Scientists grow cartilage to reconstruct nose

Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:46 PM PDT

Scientists report first ever successful nose reconstruction surgery using cartilage grown in the laboratory. Cartilage cells were extracted from the patient's nasal septum, multiplied and expanded onto a collagen membrane. The so-called engineered cartilage was then shaped according to the defect and implanted.

Sneak a peek through the mist to technology of the future

Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:46 PM PDT

A tabletop display with personal screens made from a curtain of mist that allow users to move images around and push through the fog-screens and onto the display, will be unveiled at an international conference.

3-D printing cancer cells to mimic tumors

Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:46 PM PDT

A 3-D model of a cancerous tumor using a 3-D printer has been successfully created by researchers. The model consists of a grid structure, 10 mm in width and length, made from gelatin, alginate and fibrin, which recreates the fibrous proteins that make up the extracellular matrix of a tumor. "With further understanding of these 3D models, we can use them to study the development, invasion, metastasis and treatment of cancer using specific cancer cells from patients. We can also use these models to test the efficacy and safety of new cancer treatment therapies and new cancer drugs," the lead author stated.

Laboratory-grown vaginas implanted in patients

Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:43 PM PDT

Scientists reported the first human recipients of laboratory-grown vaginal organs. They have described long-term success in four teenage girls who received vaginal organs that were engineered with their own cells.

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