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    With Single Gene Insertion, Blind Mice Regain Sight

    March 17, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    injecting viruses into the eye

    The new therapy involves injecting inactivated viruses into the vitreous to carry a gene directly into ganglion cells. Earlier versions of viral therapy required injecting the viruses underneath the retina (bottom). The gene makes normally ‘blind’ ganglion cells light sensitive, returning sight to eyes that have lost the normal light sensors, the rods and cones. The right image shows the cell layers in a normal retina. (Image by John Flannery)

    Opsins make ‘blind’ cells light-sensitive; potential human treatment within three years. People left blind by retinal degeneration have one option: electronic eye implants. Neuroscientists have now developed an alternative: gene therapy that, in tests, restored vision in blind mice...

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    Seeing through a Robot’s Eyes Helps those with Profound Motor Impairments

    March 17, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Retrieving a cup with the robot
    Showing its capabilities as a body surrogate, a PR2 controlled remotely by an individual with profound motor deficits picks up a cup in a research laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology. (Credit: Phillip Grice, Georgia Tech)

    An interface system that uses augmented reality technology could help individuals with profound motor impairments operate a humanoid robot to feed themselves and perform routine personal care tasks such as scratching an itch and applying skin lotion. The web-based interface displays a “robot’s eye view” of surroundings to help users interact with the world through the machine.

    The system, described March 15 in the journal PLOS ONE, could help make sophisticated robots more useful to people who do not have experience operating complex robotic systems...

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    ALMA observes the Formation Sites of Solar-system-like planets

    March 17, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ALMA image of the dusty disk around the young star DM Tau
    ALMA image of the dusty disk around the young star DM Tau. You can see two concentric rings where planets may be forming. 
    Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Kudo et al.

    Researchers have spotted the formation sites of planets around a young star resembling our Sun. Two rings of dust around the star, at distances comparable to the asteroid belt and the orbit of Neptune in our Solar System, suggest that we are witnessing the formation of a planetary system similar to our own.

    The Solar System is thought to have formed from a cloud of cosmic gas and dust 4.6 billion years ago. By studying young planetary systems forming around other stars, astronomers hope to learn more about our own origins.

    Tomoyuki Kudo, an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and his ...

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    Study Uncovers Genetic Switches that control process of Whole-Body Regeneration

    March 16, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Image result for Study uncovers genetic switches that control process of whole-body regeneration
    Scientists have uncovered a DNA switch that could give humans the ability to grow back their limbs. Animals like salamanders or geckos can shed parts of their bodies to escape predators and form new parts. The study examined the genetic switches in three-banded panther worm

    Researchers are shedding new light on how animals perform whole-body regeneration, and uncovered a number of DNA switches that appear to control genes used in the process.
    Planarian worms, jellyfish, and sea anemones can actually regenerate their entire bodies after being cut in half.

    Led by Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Mansi Srivastava, a team of researchers is shedding new light on how animals pull off the feat, and uncovered a number of DNA switches that appear to control genes for w...

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