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    Put down the Protein Shake: Variety of protein better for health

    May 2, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    protein shake
    Samantha M. Solon-Biet et al, Branched-chain amino acids impact health and lifespan indirectly via amino acid balance and appetite control, Nature Metabolism (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-019-0059-2

    Popular protein great for increasing muscle mass, but could reduce your life-span – researchers say to vary protein intake. Researchers have examined whether there are any ongoing ramifications or potential side-effects from long-term high protein intake or from consuming certain types of amino acids.

    Led by academics from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, Professor Stephen Simpson and Dr Samantha Solon-Biet, suggests that while delivering muscle-building benefits, excessive consumption of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) may reduce lifespan, negatively impact mood and...

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    New Polymer Films conducting Heat instead of Trapping it

    May 2, 2019, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    By mixing polymer powder in solution to generate a film that they then stretched, MIT researchers have changed polyethylene’s microstructure, from spaghetti-like clumps of molecular chains (left), to straighter strands (right), allowing heat to conduct through the polymer, better than most metals.
    Credit: Image courtesy of Gang Chen et al.

    Material may replace many metals as lightweight, flexible heat dissipators in cars, refrigerators, and electronics. Polymers are usually the go-to material for thermal insulation. Think of a silicone oven mitt, or a Styrofoam coffee cup, both manufactured from polymer materials that are excellent at trapping heat.

    Now MIT engineers have flipped the picture of the standard polymer insulator, by fabricating thin polymer films that conduct heat – an...

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    What a Dying Star’s Ashes tell us about the Birth of our Solar System

    May 2, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Billions of years ago, before our solar system was born, a dead star known as a white dwarf in a nearby binary star system accumulated enough material from its companion to cause it to ‘go nova.’ The stellar explosion forged dust grains with exotic compositions not found in our solar system. A team of researchers led by the UA found such a grain (inset image), encased in a meteorite, that survived the formation of our solar system and analyzed it with instruments sensitive enough to ID single atoms in a sample. Measuring one 25,000th of an inch, the carbon-rich graphite grain (red) revealed an embedded speck of oxygen-rich material (blue), two types of stardust that were thought could not form in the same nova eruption.
    Credit: University of Arizona/Heather Roper

    Researchers discovere...

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    Urine Test could prevent Cervical Cancer, study finds

    May 1, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A comparison of the mean ct values for detection of the internal beta globin control and HR-HPV in urine, vaginal and cervical samples using the ART (A,B) and RC assays (C,D). ct, cycle threshold; HPV, human papillomavirus. 

    Urine testing may be as effective as the smear test at preventing cervical cancer, according to new research by University of Manchester scientists. The study, led by Dr Emma Crosbie and published in BMJ Open, found that urine testing was just as good as the cervical smear at picking up high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes cervical cancer.

    The research team say a urine test could help increase the numbers of women who are screened for cervical cancer, which affects more than 3,000 women every year in the UK.
    Urine testing could also have...

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