People live messy lives: they make complex choices about what to eat, who to start a family with, and generally how to live their lives. Mice on the other hand are much simpler. They can live in a lab where their diet, mating and behaviour can be carefully monitored and controlled. This makes it far…
Oxytocin’s role in human bonding is well-known – so well-known that the first hormone ever to be sequenced is now the go-to science jewellery gift for geeks everywhere. Its role in childbirth and mother-child bonding was first elucidated at the dawn of the 20th century, and since then its profile in popular culture has grown…
They’re strong, flexible and tough – mussels have proved they’ve got muscle. Recently they’ve inspired researchers to create a new plastic which could potentially heal itself. Plastics are made of polymers – long, repetitive chains of atoms which can stretch and then relax back to their original shape. Designing a polymer is a trade-off between…
To most people going gluten-free is a health fad, like acai berries and kale smoothies – but for some it is a necessity. 1 in every 100 people in the UK have coeliac disease, an autoimmune condition that affects the gut. The body’s immune system identifies gluten as a threat and attacks, damaging the small…
Recent developments in gene editing technologies have caused the dialogue surrounding the prospect of ‘designer babies’ to reach a new pitch. Research recently published in Protein and Cell might be bringing us one exhilarating – or terrifying – step closer to making that prospect a reality. The group behind the paper, based at Sun Yat-sen…
It brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘lifehack’: scientists can now reprogram an animal’s skin to transform it into other body parts such as blood vessels or nerve tissue. The new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection, allows scientists to turn any living skin into a farm for specialised cells. Tissue Nanotransfection is a huge advance…
Goldfish are popular thanks to, amongst other attractions, being one of the most low maintenance pets available. Less well known, however, is their astounding resilience. For years, researchers have puzzled over how some types of goldfish manage to survive for months in ice-covered lakes and ponds – most vertebrate species would die from the lack…
Let’s play a little game. Look around you and take note of how much plastic you can see. Is there a water bottle on the side? Perhaps there’s some food packaging littering your floor. Maybe even a polypocket with some dubious notes from a hungover tutorial. Now guess how much of that stuff there is…
Latte art-Instagrammars and stressed-out students alike will no doubt be delighted to hear that two recent studies, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, reveal a link between coffee consumption and reduced mortality from diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. In the largest study to date to assess the link between coffee consumption and mortality,…
A new pesticide which halts gene expression in one of North America’s most damaging pests is the first of its kind to be approved by the EPA. Final regulatory approval has been granted to a genetically modified corn known as SmartStaxPro in North America. SmartStaxPro has been engineered to produce DvSnf7, a pesticide that kills…
