Recent Comments

    Surprise! TESS shows ancient North Star undergoes Eclipses

    January 9, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    TESS image with Alpha Draconis circled
    The star Alpha Draconis (circled), also known as Thuban, has long been known to be a binary system. Now data from NASA’s TESS show its two stars undergo mutual eclipses. Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS

    NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have shown that Alpha Draconis, a well-studied star visible to the naked eye, and its fainter companion star regularly eclipse each other. While astronomers previously knew this was a binary system, the mutual eclipses came as a complete surprise.

    “The first question that comes to mind is ‘how did we miss this?'” said Angela Kochoska, a postdoctoral researcher at Villanova University in Pennsylvania who presented the findings at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu on Jan. 6...

    Read More

    Study finds Dopamine, Biological Clock link to Snacking, Overeating and Obesity

    January 7, 2020, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    Biology professor Ali Güler’s research links “highly processed foods readily and cheaply available at any time of the day or night” to obesity and its many complications via disrupted circadian rhythms.
    Biology professor Ali Güler’s research links “highly processed foods readily and cheaply available at any time of the day or night” to obesity and its many complications via disrupted circadian rhythms. (Photos by Dan Addison, University Communications)

    A new study finds that the pleasure center of the brain and the brain’s biological clock are linked, and that high-calorie foods – which bring pleasure – disrupt normal feeding schedules, resulting in overconsumption.

    During the years 1976 through 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese. Today, about 40% of adults are obese. Another 33% are overweight.

    Coinciding with this increase in weight are ever-rising rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and health complications caused by obesity, such as hypertension...

    Read More

    Step toward ‘Ink’ development for 3D Printing a Bioprosthetic Ovary

    January 7, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Schematic of (a) processing the porcine ovary with a tissue slicer, prior to qPCR analysis, decellularization then proteomics analysis and iPCR validation. (b) Ovaries were sliced axially and sagittally. SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; decell’ed, decellularized; LC MS/MS, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry; iPCR, immuno PCR. Credit: Scientific Reports (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56454-3

    Findings a huge step forward in fertility preservation and hormone restoration. For the first time, scientists identified and mapped the location of structural proteins in a pig ovary. Ongoing development of an “ink” with these proteins will be used for 3-D printing an artificial (or bio-prosthetic) ovary that could be implanted and allow a woman to have a child...

    Read More

    NASA’s TESS Mission uncovers its 1st World with Two Stars

    January 7, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Illustration of a planet silhouetted by two suns

    Researchers working with data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered the mission’s first circumbinary planet, a world orbiting two stars. The planet, called TOI 1338 b, is around 6.9 times larger than Earth, or between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn. It lies in a system 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. The stars in the system make an eclipsing binary, which occurs when the stellar companions circle each other in our plane of view. One is about 10% more massive than our Sun, while the other is cooler, dimmer and only one-third the Sun’s mass. TOI 1338 b’s transits are irregular, between every 93 and 95 days, and vary in depth and duration thanks to the orbital motion of its stars...

    Read More