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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest – 47/2015.

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Engineered blood cells, Mitochondrial rejuvenation, Genomic brain expression, Quantum entanglement spacetime, Molecular nanomotors, Boosting human memory, Functional vocal tissues, New carbon materials, Cyborg plants, Extreme laser heating. 

1. Engineering Potent Blood Cells

First up, liposomes loaded with a certain protein, when injected into mice, attach to natural killer white blood cells and significantly boost their activity and ability to find and destroy cancer cells residing throughout lymph nodes, completely eliminating lymph node metastases http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/11/super-natural-killer-cells-destroy-lymph-node-tumors. This builds on prior work that achieved the same result in the blood stream and will hopefully enter human clinical trials soon. In related news new techniques for editing blood-forming stem cells have been developed, which result in repopulating an animal’s blood and immune system with different cells that all carry the desired gene edits for treating disease or other purpose http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uosc-uas110515.php. 

2. Mitochondrial Rejuvenation & Better iPSCs

Cells undergo mitochondrial rejuvenation, clearing mitochondrial damage associated with aging, when reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells – a process that occurs during embryonic development. Building on this insight new work as developed an improved method for generating better induced pluripotent stem cells via somatic cell reprogramming https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2015/11/investigating-mitochondrial-rejuvenation-during-cellular-reprogramming-and-embryonic-development.php. This resulted from identifying a new protein active in helping oocyte reprogramming be more effective than somatic cell reprogramming, and demonstrating that adding this protein to the conventional mix of somatic cell reprogramming factors serves to enhance the somatic reprogramming and produce stem cells that are more embryonic-like; more versatile, useful, and powerful. 

3. Decoding Genetic Patterns in Human Brains

The Allen Brain Institute made a major announcement with the results of a large study that investigated how gene expression varies across hundreds of functionally distinct brain regions in different human brains and so allowing patterns of gene expression that we all share to be identified; from 20,000 genes there were only 32 distinct expression patterns http://alleninstitute.org/news-events/press/press-release/allen-institute-researchers-decode-patterns-make-our-brains-human. Other findings include (i) genes for neurons being mostly conserved between humans and mice, while genes for supporting glial cells showing larger differences, and (ii) gene expression in the neocortex is correlated with functional connectivity revealed by Connectome Project data. 

4. Linking Quantum Entanglement and Spacetime

Recent work in theoretical physics seeks to demonstrate profound links between the phenomenon of quantum entanglement and the fundamental underlying nature of spacetime and gravity http://www.nature.com/news/the-quantum-source-of-space-time-1.18797. This builds on earlier work involving particular 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional models of Universes and showing them to be equivalent, in which complexities in one can be studied in a much simpler form in the other. Some of the new ideas to come out of this include a general relationship between the geometry of spacetime and entanglement, and that the connection in a wormhole and that in quantum entanglement is the same thing at different scales. There are fascinating linkages to quantum information and computation but still much work to be done to prove that these models align to the real Universe. 

5. Light-Driven Molecular Nanomotors

A 244 atom molecular nanomotor that can be powered by light has been synthesised and demonstrated http://news.rice.edu/2015/11/16/rice-makes-light-driven-nanosubmarine/. Each revolution of the molecular propellor moves the molecule forward in solution by 18nm and they can run at one million revolutions per second, covering about 2.5cm in that time even while being buffeted by molecules in the surrounding solution; fluorescent tags allowed individual nanomotors to be tracked with a microscope. Future work might assemble multiple motors to a particular cargo to transport larger loads, as well as mechanisms to facilitate steering and direction; alternatively creating an array of the motors on a surface might enable a nanomolecular stage upon which other molecules and surfaces can be transported quickly with precision. 

6. Boosting Human Memory and Cognition

A neuroprosthesis developed to compensate for memory loss and tested successfully in rats and monkeys has now passed the first tests in human patients, using a custom algorithm to reestablish communication between important brain regions at least 80% of the time with more optimisation to follow http://singularityhub.com/2015/11/15/first-human-tests-of-memory-boosting-brain-implant-a-big-leap-forward/. Recent work also uncovered finer details on how synaptic connections are strengthened between neurons and the different, important roles played by both post-synaptic and pre-synaptic neurons and suggesting new mechanisms by which this can be artificially targeted http://news.mit.edu/2015/brain-strengthen-connections-between-neurons-1118. Finally, reducing the activity of the brain’s stress circuitry appears to reduce Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology and prevent cognitive impairment in mouse models https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2015-11-16-Modulating-Brains-Stress-Circuitry-Might-Prevent-Alzheimers-Disease.aspx. 

7. Growing Functional Vocal Cord Tissue

Functional vocal cord tissue has been successfully grown in the laboratory for the first time http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-events/wisconsin-scientists-grow-functional-vocal-cord-tissue-in-the-lab/47135; the lead scientist presents very well in the embedded video. This represented a difficult bioengineering challenge given the many fine physical and mechanical requirements that healthy vocal cords must embody. The process involved harvesting cells from the mucosa of vocal cords from patients, then incubating them for two weeks in a collagen scaffold and nutrient bath; physical and molecular testing showed the tissue to be very similar to normal tissue while testing in dog larynges showed near identical sound production and vibration patterns and grafting in mice was also a success. Human trials should occur at some point. 

8. Carbon Materials Development

A breakthrough in the production of graphene has occurred with the ability to produce large sheets of graphene using the same cheap copper foil used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_433699_en.html. The process produces graphene 100-times cheaper than previously possible and extends chemical-vapour-deposition fabrication methods. In related news diamond nanothreads – one dimensional diamond crystals – show unexpected versatility (in simulations) by avoiding the brittleness that arises with length of the molecular chain via the introduction of malleable defects that act as hinges and convey useful flexibility http://www.technologyreview.com/view/543631/forget-graphene-and-carbon-nanotubes-get-ready-for-diamond-nanothread/. 

9. Growing Plants with Embedded Circuits

Living roses have been created with tiny self-assembled circuits up to 20cm long threaded through their vascular systems http://www.livescience.com/52872-electronic-plants-created.html. The team were also able to create organic electrochemical transistors with the self-assembling conductive polymer they used to grow the circuits and hope to incorporate sensors in future to create plants with embedded nervous and computational systems that might be able to respond in programmed ways to various stimuli. Early days and still unclear what the full application space will be. 

10. Extreme Heating with Lasers

A new proposed heating mechanism uses lasers to heat certain materials to ten million degrees in a tiny fraction (10^-15) of a second http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_13-11-2015-10-11-57. The method sidesteps typical indirect heating methods with lasers that impart energy to electrons on a material that then impart energy onto ions and atoms to heat the material up, and instead uses high-intensity lasers to impart an electrostatic shockwave in a material designed to have two distinct types of ions, both of which are directly accelerated at different rates and quickly generate huge amounts of friction and heat. This was an interesting mechanism to discover but still needs experimental verification to be applicable to fusion and other applications. 

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