Scientists grow primitive liver from pluripotent stem cells

Japanese scientists may have found the way to address the global organ transplant shortage. According to new research published by Yokohama City Unversity Graduate School of Medicine, scientists have succeeding in growing primitive livers from pluripotent stem cells. The nascent livers, dubbed by the scientists “liver buds”, are the product of mixing three different cell kinds - liver, endothelial and mesenchymal- in a fashion akin to what happens in developing human foetuses. To the surprise of the researchers the cells bound together and developed into a primitive liver. Researchers transplanted the buds into mice with liver failure, and found that the primitive organs helped the mice to survive. In addition, the buds began secreting liver-specific proteins, producing human-specific metabolites and after hooking up with nearby blood vessels. They continued to grow after transplantation. Co-author Takanori Takebe was pleased but circumspect. He said that while the technique looks "very promising" and represents a huge step forward, "there is much unknown and it will take years before it could be applied in regenerative medicine." The research has made headlines around the world. Matthew Smalley of the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute believes that it holds "real promise for a viable alternative approach to human...

Read More........→September 24, 2013

World's 1st talking robot astronaut set to go to space

Wellington, June 27 (ANI): Japan is set to send the world's first talking robot-astronaut to space. Yorichika Nishijima, the Kirobo project manager - named after "kibo" or hope in Japanese and "robot - said in Tokyo that Russia was the first to travel outer space, the US was the first to reach moon, but they wanted Japan to the first to send a robot-astronaut, which has the ability to communicate with humans, the University of Tokyo, Robo Garage and Toyota. CEO of Robo Garage and associate professor at the University of Tokyo, Tomotaka Takahashi, said that he hopes that robots like Kirobo, which can hold conversations, will eventually be used to assist astronauts who work in the space. Kirobo is just about 34 centimetres tall and weighs about 1 kilogram and is set to be launched from the TanegashimaSpace Center on August 4, this year. (ANI),  Source: News Track Indi...

Read More........→June 27, 2013

Dream reading: Scientists in Japan decode sleeping minds

RESEARCHERS have found a way to "read" people's dreams for the first time, according to a breakthrough study published in the journal Science. A team of scientists from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology used MRI scanners to work out what images people were seeing in their dreams as they fell into sleep. Seconds after the scientists' three volunteers began to doze off inside the machines, they were woken up by researchers, and asked to describe what they had seen. Scientists recorded every detail of the images they mentioned, from bronze statues to ice picks, and the experiment was repeated more than 200 times for each participant. The answers were then compared with the brain maps the MRI scans had produced and scientists built a database for each participant based on the results. Researchers then scanned volunteers again while they were awake and looking at different images on a computer. The results showed what parts of their brains were active when they looked at each picture. When they next scanned the volunteers during sleep, they found they could predict what participants were dreaming about 60 per cent of the time. Although the experiment did allow researchers to "read" some dreams, ATR's Professor Yukiyasu Kamitani, who headed-up the team, explained...

Read More........→April 07, 2013

Hoax - Picture of 'World's Largest Tortoise'

The Wolrd largest Tortise found in Amazon river its age around 529 /Hieght-59/Weight- 800 Pounds Outline : Social media message claims that an attached photograph depicts the world's largest tortoise, found in the Amazon River, being transported along a roadway strapped to the bed of a large truck. Brief Analysis: The "tortoise" is not real. The picture is a scene from the 2006 Japanese movie "Gamera the Brave" which features a giant turtle creature. At one point in the movie, the wounded Gamera is transported via a military truck to a research facility. The circulating image is apparently taken from this part of the movie. Detailed Analysis: According to this message, which has circulated widely via Facebook and other social media websites, an accompanying photograph depicts the world's largest tortoise being transported on the bed of a truck. The message claims that the massive tortoise was found Galapagos Tortoise ( Image credit: Matthew Field, Wikimedia Commons) in the Amazon River, weighs 800 pounds and is 529 years old. Not surprisingly, the picture does not depict a real tortoise or turtle or even a "tortise". The picture is in fact taken from a 2006 Japanese movie titled "Gamera the Brave". The movie is one in a series of titles that feature a gigantic turtle with special powers. In...

Read More........→March 09, 2013

Giant underwater isopod fasts for 4 years, feels great

A creature known as “the scavenger of the deep” has surprised its keepers at an aquarium by “fasting” for more than four years. The giant male isopod, called No. 1 to distinguish it from the two other giant isopods kept at Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture, last ate in January 2009, when it was fed a whole horse mackerel. The isopod devoured the fish, bones and all, in just five minutes. But it has not eaten anything since, with Feb. 10 marking 1,500 days without food. The crustacean was brought to the aquarium from the Gulf of Mexico in September 2007, measuring 29 cm and weighing 1 kg, and despite its lack of food still looks perfectly healthy, the keepers say. “We have done all we possibly can,” said Takeya Moritaki, who is responsible for the creature. Moritaki said he has tried an assortment of food items, including squid tentacles and saury, but the isopod has ignored them all. Little is known about the biology of the creatures, which live in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean and which live off dead creatures and fish. It remains a mystery why the isopod suddenly stopped eating and why it has remained healthy. “Giant isopods are always in a state of semihibernation because they don’t know when they can eat, so they limit their energy on breathing and other activities,” said Taeko Kimura, a...

Read More........→February 27, 2013