Comment Wow, just wow. (Score 1) 414
This kind of story is one of the reasons that I love Slashdot so much. What a fantastic breakthrough (if it pans out).
Submission + - Human Skin Cells Converted Directly to Neurons (stanford.edu) 1
Dr. Eggman writes: Standford's School of Medicine brings us an update in the latest achievements towards in-vitro neuron generation via re differentiation of specialized cells (skin cells in this case.) This important progress follows on last year's success in inducing this change with mice skin cells.
The importance of this line of research lies in that the process does not need to first de-differentiate the skin cells into a kind of stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells. By skipping this phase, the process avoids potential problems in the body's rejection of the iPS cells.
Amazingly, the transformation occurs with the added presence of 4 proteins (one more protein than need to induce the effect in mice) over several weeks (compared to a few days in mice.) Research continues as the study highlights the significant differences in mice and human neural cells as well as the success rate of transformation (2-4% for human cells, 20% for mice.) The resultant cells aren't yet as capable as naturally derived neurons; generating less-robust electrical signals.
The importance of this line of research lies in that the process does not need to first de-differentiate the skin cells into a kind of stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells. By skipping this phase, the process avoids potential problems in the body's rejection of the iPS cells.
Amazingly, the transformation occurs with the added presence of 4 proteins (one more protein than need to induce the effect in mice) over several weeks (compared to a few days in mice.) Research continues as the study highlights the significant differences in mice and human neural cells as well as the success rate of transformation (2-4% for human cells, 20% for mice.) The resultant cells aren't yet as capable as naturally derived neurons; generating less-robust electrical signals.
Submission + - Did Some Black Holes Survive the Big Bang? (discovery.com)
astroengine writes: "Could anything survive from one universe to the next, through a Big Crunch and resulting Big Bang? According to two researchers, a special class of pre-Big Bang black hole may have the ability to traverse the Big Bang singularity. The upshot is that there may be black holes that existed before the Big Bang knocking around in our modern universe. What's more, we might be able to detect them through the theorized gamma-ray burst produced when these pre-Big Bang black holes evaporate out of existence. But how would we distinguish between these black holes and the primordial black holes thought to be produced after the Big Bang? Well, that's just too confusing right now."
Comment Kudos on the upgrade. Looks good. (Score 1) 2254
I like it--looks clean and professional to me. Kudos.
Comment If this is Iceland, the pic is scary. (Score 3, Informative) 109
Comment Re:Raw feeds? (Score 1) 109
So is this a near-current image of Iceland then?
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?T101061035
Comment Raw feeds? (Score 4, Informative) 109
So I guess the
NASA Aqua
NASA Aura
NASA's Terra
European Space Agency's Envisat
European Space Agency's MetOp
NOAA's GOES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
- http://www.goes.noaa.gov/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_Operational_Environmental_Satellite
Space research always pays for itself in the long term. The acronyms in the NOAA GOES got me interested.
