Lifeboat Foundation

The team noted that although other studies have been able to create nephrons and ureteric ducts from stem cells, these didn’t fully function as they would in real kidneys due to the absence of stromal cells, which are crucial for cell signaling. The team took embryonic stem cells from mice and induced these to differentiate into kidney-specific stromal cells, using a cocktail of chemicals meant to mimic those that would occur in vivo.

When they combined the stromal cells with nephron and ureteric bud cells (which they also created from stem cells), the result was a “kidney-like 3D tissue, consisting of extensively branched tubules and several other kidney-specific structures.”

According to the researchers, this is the most complex kidney structure that’s been generated from scratch in a lab. Though this study was done in mice, the team noted that it has already created the first two kidney components—nephron progenitors and ureteric buds—from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). If they’re able to also create stromal cells from iPSCs, they said, “a similarly complex human kidney should be achievable.”

Picture yourself hovering over an alien city with billions of blinking lights of thousands of types, with the task of figuring out which ones are connected, which way the electricity flows and how that translates into nightlife. Welcome to the deep brain.

Even in an era rapidly becoming known as the heyday of neuroscience, tracing the biochemical signaling among billions of neurons deep in the brain has remained elusive and baffling.

A team of Stanford University researchers managed to map out one such connection, buried inside the brain of a living, moving mammal as they manipulated its behavior. The feat offers an unprecedented close-up of the genesis of social behavior on a cellular level, and could offer insights into psychiatric puzzles such as autism, depression and anxiety.

An analysis of radioactive chemicals in ice cores indicates one of the most powerful solar storms ever hit Earth around 7,176 B.C.

(Inside Science) — For a few nights more than 9,000 years ago, at a time when many of our ancestors were wearing animal skins, the northern skies would have been bright with flickering lights.

Telltale chemical isotopes in ancient ice cores suggest one of the most massive solar storms ever took place around 7,176 B.C., and it would have been noticed.

Continue reading “Ice holds evidence of ancient, massive solar storm” »

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Paderborn University, and the University of Konstanz have succeeded in achieving a rare quantum state. They are the first to have demonstrated Wannier-Stark localization in a polycrystalline substance. Predicted around 80 years ago, the effect has only recently been proven — in a monocrystal. Until now, researchers assumed this localization to be possible only in such monocrystalline substances which are very complicated to produce. The new findings represent a breakthrough in the field of physics and could in future give rise to new optical modulators, for example, that can be used in information technologies based on light, among other things. The physicists have published their findings in the well-respected technical journal, Nature Communications.

Stronger and faster than lightning

The atoms of a crystal are arranged in a three-dimensional grid, held together by chemical bonds. These bonds can, however, be dissolved by very strong electric fields which displace atoms, even going so far as to introduce so much energy into the crystal that it is destroyed. This is what happens when lightning strikes and materials liquefy, vaporize or combust, for example. To demonstrate Wannier-Stark localization, the scientists’ experiments involved setting up electric fields of several million volts per centimeter, much stronger than the fields involved in lightning strikes. During this process, the electronic system of a solid — in this case, a polycrystal — is forced far from a state of equilibrium for a very short time. Wannier-Stark localization involves virtually shutting down some of the chemical bonds temporarily. This state can only be maintained for less than a picosecond — one millionth of one millionth of a second — without destroying the substance.

Hydrogen is already a key component of chemical industrial processes and in the steel industry. So making clean hydrogen to use in those industrial processes is critical to reducing carbon emissions, says Jake Stones at market research firm Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS).

But as an energy source itself, hydrogen’s big advantage is its versatility according to Sunita Satyapal, who oversees hydrogen fuel cell technology for the Department of Energy.

“It’s often called the Swiss Army knife of energy,” she says.

The world’s first demonstration device to produce 1,000 tons of gasoline per year from carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrogenation has completed its technology evaluation and trial operation.

Located in the Zoucheng Industrial Park, Shandong province, China, the project has been jointly developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Zhuhai Futian Energy Technology company. The hydrogenation of CO₂ into liquid fuels and chemicals can not only realize the resource utilization of CO₂ but also facilitate the storage and transportation of renewable energy.

However, activation and selective conversion of CO₂ are challenging. A technology that can selectively produce energy-dense, value-added hydrocarbon fuels will provide a new route to promote the clean, low-carbon energy revolution.

One of the especially promising therapies to appear in the realm of anti-aging research involves a set of molecules known as Yamanaka factors, which scientists have deployed to rejuvenate aging cells, trigger muscle regeneration and tackle glaucoma. New research at the Salk Institute has sought to build on these short-term and specific use cases by demonstrating how these molecules can reverse signs of aging in middle-aged and elderly mice, with no evidence of health problems following the extended treatment.

The Yamanaka factors at the center of this study are a set of four reprogramming molecules that can reset the molecular clock found in the cells of the body. They do so by returning unique patterns of chemicals known as epigenetic markers, which evolve through aging, to their original states.

Continue reading “Anti-aging molecules safely reset mouse cells to youthful states” »

Drugs are polluting rivers and adding to the resistance crisis as well as affecting riverine ecosystems.

Pharmaceutical pollution in the world’s rivers is threatening environmental and human health and the attainment of UN goals on water quality, with developing countries the worst affected, a global study warns.

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) could be contributing to antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms, and may have unknown long-term effects on human health, as well as harming aquatic life, according to the report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Continue reading “Drugs pollute rivers, add to resistance crisis” »

Membrane filters don’t require much energy to purify water, making them popular for wastewater treatment. To keep these materials in tip-top condition, they’re commonly cleaned with large amounts of strong chemicals, but some of these agents destroy the membranes in the process. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed reusable nanoparticle catalysts that incorporate glucose to help efficiently break down contaminants inside these filters without damaging them.

Typically, dirty wastewater filters are unclogged with strong acids, bases or oxidants. Chlorine-containing oxidants such as bleach can break down the most stubborn organic debris. But they also damage polyamide membranes, which are in most commercial nanofiltration systems, and they produce toxic byproducts. A milder alternative to bleach is hydrogen peroxide, but it decomposes contaminants slowly.

Previously, scientists have combined hydrogen peroxide with iron oxide to form hydroxyl radicals that improve hydrogen peroxide’s efficiency in a process known as the Fenton reaction. Yet in order for the Fenton reaction to clean filters, extra hydrogen peroxide and acid are needed, increasing financial and environmental costs. One way to avoid these additional chemicals is to use the enzyme glucose oxidase, which simultaneously forms hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid from glucose and oxygen. So, Jianquan Luo and colleagues wanted to combine glucose oxidase and iron oxide nanoparticles into a system that catalyzes the Fenton-based breakdown of contaminants, creating an efficient and delicate cleaning system for membrane filters.