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Magazine
In the Nov. 10 SN: Real benefits of virtual therapy, monkey malaria in humans, round electrons disappoint, mouse pups with two dads, bats’ hover techniques, Europa’s icy spikes, a vampire burial and more.
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News
A mash-up of yeast and E. coli shows how mitochondria might have evolved
11/05/2018 - 06:00 Evolution, CellsYeast intentionally stuffed with bacteria may teach scientists something about the origins of cells’ powerhouses.
Cellular power-generating organelles, called mitochondria, are thought to have once been bacteria captured by archaea, single-celled microbes that are one of the earliest forms of life. Now, almost all eukaryotic cells (cells with a nucleus) contain mitochondria. At first,...
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Feature
How to make organ transplants last
10/21/2018 - 05:00 Immune Science, Cells, Clinical TrialsTrent Jackson’s life changed abruptly in early 2015. The computer engineer thought he had the flu. His then-wife, Donna Sylvia, thought differently. His skin was turning a dark golden yellow, almost brown, “like he was getting some kind of weird tan,” she says. On Wednesday, January 28, Sylvia and Jackson’s brother Todd finally persuaded Jackson to see a doctor.
Sylvia’s suspicions were...
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News
Gene editing creates mice with two biological dads for the first time
10/11/2018 - 12:02 Cells, DevelopmentFor the first time, researchers have created mice with two dads. No female contributed to the rodents’ genetic makeup.
This unusual reproduction took place in a lab where researchers gathered fathers’ stem cells, and used them to produce embryos that were implanted into surrogate mothers. The technique required scientists to edit the animals’ genes in order for the mice to mature enough...
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Science Visualized
See these dazzling images of a growing mouse embryo
10/11/2018 - 11:00 Cells, Development, AnimalsA new microscope is giving researchers an unprecedented view of how mammals are built, cell by cell.
Light sheet microscopes use ultrathin laser beams to illuminate sections of a specimen while cameras record those lit-up sections. Previous iterations of the device have captured detailed portraits of living zebra fish and fruit fly embryos as they develop. Kate McDole, a developmental...
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Feature
Ibrahim Cissé unlocks cells’ secrets using physics
Ibrahim Cissé, 35Physics and biophysicsMIT09/26/2018 - 08:33 Genetics, Physics, CellsIbrahim Cissé expected to join his father’s law firm one day. “There were no scientists where I grew up in Niger,” says the MIT biophysicist. “I certainly didn’t know [science] was a profession one could do.”
But Cissé’s parents had a telling clue about their young son’s eventual career path: a door sign he made that read “Laboratoire de...
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Feature
Lisa Manning describes the physics of how cells move
Lisa Manning, 38Physics and biologySyracuse University09/26/2018 - 08:30 Biomedicine, Cells, Development, PhysicsThink of tissues as mosh pits of cells. The cells may not be able to crowd surf, but they can jam.
Specifically, cells can undergo a jamming transition, a physical role change that was previously known to occur only among foams, sand and other nonliving materials. It’s one of the ways that physicist Lisa Manning has shown how...
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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...