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Magazine
In the Sept. 29 SN: Tomorrow’s burger, inside three big physics experiments, enterovirus outbreak patterns, Jupiter’s wacky magnetism, crop pests like it warm, firefly flashing methods and more.
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News
Humans have skeletal stem cells that help bones and cartilage grow
09/20/2018 - 11:08 CellsRepairing bones and cartilage may get easier thanks to newly discovered human skeletal stem cells.
Scientists found the stem cells, which give rise to bones, cartilage and the spongy bone that harbors bone marrow, in fetal bones, adult bones and fat, researchers report online September 20 in Cell. The researchers also reprogrammed adult cells into skeletal stem cells. A ready supply of...
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Mystery Solved
How salamanders can regrow nearly complete tails but lizards can’t
08/17/2018 - 12:30 Cells, Development, Animals, EvolutionSalamanders and lizards can both regrow their tails, but not to equal perfection.
While a regenerated salamander tail closely mimics the original, bone and all, a lizard’s replacement is filled with cartilage and lacks nerve cells. That contrast is due to differences between stem cells in the animals’ spinal cords, researchers report online August 13 in Proceedings of the National...
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News
Tiny bits of RNA can trigger pain and itchiness
08/13/2018 - 14:06 Cells, Physiology, Neuroscience, GeneticsSome snippets of RNA can be a real pain.
A microRNA called miR-30c-5p contributes to nerve pain in rats and people, a new study finds. A different microRNA, miR-711, interacts with a well-known itch-inducing protein to cause itching, a second study concludes. Together, the research highlights the important role that the small pieces of genetic material can play in nerve cell function,...
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News in Brief
Here’s how fast cell death can strike
08/09/2018 - 15:17 Cells, DevelopmentScientists now know how long it takes for a cell to tell itself it’s time to die.
Signals triggering a type of cell suicide called apoptosis move through a cell like a wave, traveling at a rate of 30 micrometers per minute, Stanford University systems biologists Xianrui Cheng and James Ferrell Jr. report in the Aug. 10 Science.
These findings resolve a debate over whether these...
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News
Nasty stomach viruses can travel in packs
08/08/2018 - 11:00 Cells, Immune Science, MicrobiologyConventional wisdom states that viruses work as lone soldiers. Scientists now report that some viruses also clump together in vesicles, or membrane-bound sacs, before an invasion. Compared with solo viruses, these viral “Trojan horses” caused more severe infections in mice, researchers report August 8 in Cell Host & Microbe.
Cell biologist Nihal Altan-Bonnet had been involved in...
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News
Scientists successfully transplant lab-grown lungs into pigs
08/03/2018 - 10:43 Biomedicine, Cells, TechnologyFor the first time, researchers have created lungs in the lab and successfully transplanted them into pigs.
These bioengineered lungs, described online August 1 in Science Translational Medicine, developed healthy blood vessels that allowed pigs to live for several weeks after surgery. That’s a significant improvement from previous efforts: Lab-grown lungs implanted in rodents failed...
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News
Newfound airway cells may breathe life into tackling cystic fibrosis
08/01/2018 - 17:06 Health, CellsMeet the ionocyte. This newly discovered cell may be the star of future cystic fibrosis therapies. Researchers have found that the gene tied to the disease is very active in the cells, which line the air passages of the lungs.
While the cells are rare, making up only 1 to 2 percent of cells that line the airways, they seem to play an outsized role in keeping lungs clear. The...
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News
How a slime mold near death packs bacteria to feed the next generation
07/27/2018 - 15:35 Microbes, Cells, PhysiologyIn the final frenzy of reproduction and death, social amoebas secrete proteins that help preserve a starter kit of food for its offspring.
Dictyostelium discoideum, a type of slime mold in soil, eats bacteria. Some wild forms of this species essentially farm the microbes, passing them along in spore cases that give the next generation of amoebas the beginnings of a fine local patch of...
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News
Here’s why wounds heal faster in the mouth than in other skin
07/25/2018 - 14:00 Genetics, Cells, Immune ScienceMouth wounds heal faster than injuries to other parts of the skin, and now scientists are learning how the mouth performs its speedy repairs.
Some master regulators of gene activity work overtime in the mouth to heal wounds without scarring, researchers report July 25 in Science Translational Medicine. Those regulators — proteins known as SOX2, PITX1, PITX2 and PAX9 — are active in skin...
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News
Researchers create hybrid embryos of endangered white rhinos
07/04/2018 - 14:50 Animals, Cells, ConservationThe nearly extinct northern white rhino may not be completely lost.
For the first time, white rhinoceros embryos have been made in the lab. Scientists injected preserved sperm from a male northern white rhino into eggs of female southern white rhinos, a closely related subspecies. The embryos were incubated until the cells began to differentiate, a stage at which they can be implanted...