Archive for November, 2009
Naked Mole Rats May Hold Clues to Stroke Survival
by andreas on Nov.30, 2009, under brain research
Blind and nearly hairless, naked mole rats may help scientists develop better treatment methods for brain injuries.
Blind, nearly hairless, and looking something like toothy, plump, pink fingers, naked mole rats may rank among nature’s most maligned creatures, but their unusual physiology endears them to scientists.
Two University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report in the Dec. 9 issue of NeuroReport (now on-line) that adult naked mole rat brain tissue can withstand extreme hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, for periods exceeding a half-hour — much longer than brain tissue from other mammals.
The findings may yield clues for better treatment of brain injuries associated with heart attack, stroke and accidents where the brain is starved of vital oxygen.
John Larson, associate professor of physiology in psychiatry, and Thomas Park, professor of biological sciences, studied African naked mole rats — small rodents that live about six feet underground in big colonies of up to 300 members. The living is tight and the breathing even worse, with the limited air supply high in carbon dioxide and low in oxygen.
More details on the research is available from PhysOrg.
Evidence of Biophotonic Communication Spurs Development of New Field of Research
by andreas on Nov.29, 2009, under Uncategorized
Sergei Mayburov at the Lebedev Institute of Physics in Moscow puts forward the idea that optical communication is a natural process in many cells that can be explained by the way we already know many cells to function.
He points out that biologists have long known that photons play a central role in the biochemistry of many plant and bacterial cells. The basic idea, laid out in the 1960s, is that optical or UV photons enter a cell and stimulate the creation of excitons, electron-hole pairs, on certain long chain molecules. The exciton travels along the molecule, influencing the way it reacts with other species within the cell. This is the basic theory behind photosynthesis.
Mayburov’s idea is that this process is, first, reversible, second, not limited to photosynthetic cells and third, possible to modulate for communication.
You can read more on the research from Technology Review.
Contact Lenses that Respond to Light
by andreas on Nov.16, 2009, under Uncategorized, optics
Transition lenses–which darken automatically in response to bright sunlight–have been available for eyeglasses for 40 years. But adapting this flexibility to contact lenses has proven challenging. Now researchers in Singapore have developed UV-responsive, or photochromic, lenses that darken when exposed to ultraviolet light, protecting the eyes against the sun’s damaging rays, and return to normal in UV’s absence.
The key is a novel polymer laced with an intricate network of nano-sized tunnels that can be filled with dyes. Initial studies have shown that the technology performs faster than the transition sunglasses on the market today, says Jackie Ying, director of the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore, and developer of the lenses. The research is part of a broader effort at IBN to develop new materials for contact lenses that can dispense drugs and diagnose diseases.
Read more on the research from the Technology Review.
