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    Mobile Bedside Bioprinter can Heal Wounds

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

    A close up view of the skin bioprinter nozzle.
    Credit: WFIRM photo

    Imagine a day when a bioprinter filled with a patient’s own cells can be wheeled right to the bedside to treat large wounds or burns by printing skin, layer by layer, to begin the healing process. That day is not far off. Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have created such a mobile skin bioprinting system – the first of its kind – that allows bi-layered skin to be printed directly into a wound.

    “The unique aspect of this technology is the mobility of the system and the ability to provide on-site management of extensive wounds by scanning and measuring them in order to deposit the cells directly where they are needed to create skin,” said Sean Murphy, Ph.D...

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    Dark Matter may be Hitting the Right Note in Small Galaxies

    March 1, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers observed that the dark matter does not seem to clump very much in small galaxies, but their density peaks sharply in bigger systems such as clusters of galaxies. It has been a puzzle why different systems behave differently.
    Credit: Kavli IPMU – Kavli IPMU modified this figure based on the image credited by NASA, STScI

    Dark matter may scatter against each other only when they hit the right energy, say researchers in Japan, Germany, and Austria in a new study. Their idea helps explain why galaxies from the smallest to the biggest have the shapes they do.

    Dark matter is a mysterious and unknown form of matter that comprises more than 80 per cent of matter in the Universe today...

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    What Controls the Tips of our Chromosomes?

    February 28, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Telomeres (in green) are at the tips of chromosomes (in red).
    Credit: Jose Escandell, IGC

    The tips of our chromosomes have telomeres. They work as a protective cap that prevents our genetic material from unfolding and corroding away. When they do not work properly, telomeres can lead to the total erosion of our genetic material and can trigger cancer and age-related diseases. In a study now published in EMBO Journal, a research team from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC; Portugal), led by Jose Escandell and Miguel Godinho Ferreira, discovered a key aspect of the regulation of telomeres.

    There is an increasing number of human syndromes attributed to telomeres malfunction...

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    Anemic Galaxy reveals Deficiencies in Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Formation theory

    February 28, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    DGSAT I (left), an ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG), is shown next to a normal spiral galaxy (right) for comparison. Both are similar in size, but UDGs like DGSAT I have so few stars, you can see right through them, to the galaxies in the background.
    Credit: A. ROMANOWSKY/UCO/D. MARTINEZ-DELGADO/ARI

    Strange features of a newly discovered ghostly galaxy deepen mystery of how ultra-diffuse galaxies are born. A team of astronomers led by the University of California Observatories (UCO) have studied in great detail a galaxy so faint and in such pristine condition it has acted as a time capsule, sealed shortly after the dawn of our universe only to be opened by the newest technology at W. M. Keck Observatory.

    Using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), the team discovered a bizarre, solitary ultra-d...

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