‘DNA robot’ targets cancer cells
Scientists have developed and tested a “DNA robot” that delivers payloads such as drug molecules to specific cells.
The container was made using a method called “DNA origami”, in which long DNA chains are folded in a prescribed way.
Then, so-called aptamers - which can recognise specific cell types - were used to lock the barrel-shaped robot.
A scientist suspends animals by magnets to study disorientation of space flight. LIFE 1958.
(Reblogged from geneticist)
Have you heard about the Human Connectome Project?
The Human Connectome Project (HCP) is trying to map out all the structural and functional connections of the brain within and across individuals. For instance, this image shows structural connections between different parts of the brain by using diffusion spectral imaging (DSI). This basically uses the fact that white matter has long axons in which water will show directionality- and we can detect that directionality to make an image of the connections. This is a huge, but important, undertaking- and besides which, the images are simply stunning.
Also, don’t forget about NeuroLove on twitter!
Specific Protein Needed for Blood Vessel Formation
New research explains how cells regulate their bonds during the development of new blood vessels. For the first time, the role of the protein Raf-1 in determining the strength of the bond between cells has been shown. If Raf-1 is not present, the cells cannot stick together and the formation of new blood vessels is inhibited. This discovery may one day lead to new approaches to cancer treatment.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Specific-Protein-Needed-for-Blood-Vessel-Formation-011712.aspx
Oxytocin, aka “love hormone”, The hormone responsible for love
Photo by Alfred Pasieka
A healthy human brain (left) compared to the brain of a 90 year old (right) which is only two thirds the size of the young brain. Over time, white matter decreases and the brain shrinks. This gradual shrinkage is most extreme between age 70 and 80.
Photographer Loves Math, Graphs Her Images
Here are some of the pictures the photographer named Nikki Graziano have captured. Graziano, is a math and photography student at Rochester Institute of Technology, she overlays graphs and their corresponding equations onto her carefully composed photos.
“I wanted to create something that could communicate how awesome math is, to everyone,” she says.
Graziano doesn’t go out looking for a specific function but lets one find her instead. Once she’s got an image she likes, Graziano whips up the numbers and tweaks the function until the graph it describes aligns perfectly with the photograph. See more of her Found Functions series at Nikkigraziano.com.
Ever wondered what flavors look like? Here you go!
Each one of these shows some chemical present in your every day food that contributes to the flavors you know and love seen through the microscope!
Top: capsaicin from chillis
Middle: glucose (sugar), catechin (present in teas) and honey
Bottom: some stuff from strawberries and lettuce!
Images
Tiny coccolithophores have had a big impact on the planet over time. Though they are single-celled, these photosynthesising organisms are enclosed in a mosaic, or cage, of microscopic plates that make many very beautiful to look at. The plates are made of calcium carbonate, which the coccoliths pull from the surrounding water. As these small organisms live and die in their trillions, they bequeath their tiny plates to the ocean floor where they form rocks such as chalk. Over geological time, coccoliths have removed significant amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to keep Earth cool as the sun grew hotter.
