Promising Trial Results Show Male Contraception May Be Arriving in the Near Future

A phase 2 trial showed that a gel-based male contraceptive is both effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies and quickly reversible.

Tests will continue to examine the effectiveness, safety, acceptability, and reversibility of contraception after treatment stops, but the results are a sign that reliable male birth control may not be far away from a pharmacy near you.

The NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is funding the study, which included 222 men who completed at least 3 weeks of daily treatment with the contraceptive gel.

Applied daily to the shoulder blades, the gel contained 8 milligrams (mg) of a hormone called segesterone acetate and 74 mg of testosterone.

By week 15, 86% of the participants were tested and showed a sperm count below the level at which a man is typically diagnosed as infertile.

Testosterone treatment alone decreases sperm production, with a median time of 15 weeks but the addition of segesterone acetate speeds the time and lowers the dose of testosterone needed to suppress sperm production over testosterone alone, said senior researcher Diana Blithe, Ph.D., chief of the Contraceptive Development Program at the National Institutes of Health.

In the daily segesterone-testosterone gel regimen, blood levels of testosterone were kept in the physiologic range to maintain normal sexual function and other androgen-dependent activities.

“We’ve been pushing for hormonal male contraceptives for 50 years, but there isn’t enough money available to really drive something through a very large phase 3 trial,” Daniel Johnston, a senior colleague of Blithe’s, told NBC News. “We’ve been chasing this for a long time. I hope we’re entering new territory.”

The research was presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston but hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/early-phase-2-trial-results-show-promising-male-birth-control-option-may-be-arriving-in-the-future/

Read More........→September 04, 2024

New Drug Affecting Sperm Motility Shows Promise as Male Birth Control Pill

Credit: Hal Gatewood/ Unsplash

A novel, non-hormonal sperm-specific approach offers a promising option for reversible human male contraception.

The world’s population has increased by more than 2.6-fold in the last 60 years. The growing trend continues – projections indicate that the number of people living on our planet will grow to 9 billion by 2037 from 8 billion in 2022. These numbers underscore the need for considering family planning; however, there have been limited breakthroughs in contraception in recent decades. Specifically for men, there are no oral contraceptive pills available.

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions show in animal models that a novel, non-hormonal sperm-specific approach offers a promising option for reversible human male contraception.

“Although researchers have been investigating several strategies to develop male contraceptives, we still do not have a birth control pill for men,” said corresponding author Dr. Martin Matzuk, director of the Center for Drug Discovery and chair of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Baylor. “In this study we focused on a novel approach – identifying a small molecule that would inhibit serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33), a protein that is specifically required for fertility in both men and mice.”

Previous research has shown that STK33 is enriched in the testis and is specifically required for the formation of functional sperm. In mice, knocking out the Stk33 gene renders the mice sterile due to abnormal sperm and poor sperm motility. In men, having a mutation in the STK33 gene leads to infertility caused by the same sperm defects found in the Stk33 knockout mice. Most importantly, mice and men with these mutations have no other defects and even have normal testis size.

Want more breaking news?

“STK33 is therefore considered a viable target with minimal safety concerns for contraception in men,” said Matzuk, who has been on faculty at Baylor for 30 years and is Baylor’s Stuart A. Wallace Chair and Robert L. Moody, Sr. Chair of Pathology and Immunology. “STK33 inhibitors have been described but none are STK33-specific or potent for chemically disrupting STK33 function in living organisms.”

Finding an effective STK33 inhibitor

“We used DNA-Encoded Chemistry Technology (DEC-Tec) to screen our multi-billion compound collection to discover potent STK33 inhibitors,” said first author Dr. Angela Ku, staff scientist in the Matzuk lab. “Our group and others have used this approach before to uncover potent and selective kinase inhibitors.”

The researchers uncovered potent STK33-specific inhibitors, from which they successfully generated modified versions to make them more stable, potent and selective. “Among these modified versions, compound CDD-2807 turned out to be the most effective,” Ku said.

“Next, we tested the efficacy of CDD-2807 in our mouse model,” said co-author Dr. Courtney M. Sutton, postdoctoral fellow in the Matzuk lab. “We evaluated several doses and treatment schedules and then determined sperm motility and number in the mice as well as their ability to fertilize females.”

Compound CDD-2807 effectively crossed the blood-testis barrier and reduced sperm motility and numbers and mice fertility at low doses. “We were pleased to see that the mice did not show signs of toxicity from CDD-2807 treatment, that the compound did not accumulate in the brain, and that the treatment did not alter testis size, similar to the Stk33 knockout mice and the men with the STK33 mutation,” Sutton said. “Importantly, the contraceptive effect was reversible. After a period without compound CDD-2807, the mice recovered sperm motility and numbers and were fertile again.”

“In our paper, we also present the first crystal structure for STK33,” said co-author Dr. Choel Kim, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Our crystal structure showed how one of our potent inhibitors interacts with STK33 kinase in three dimensions. This enabled us to model and design our final compound, CDD-2807, for better drug-like properties.”

“This study was a tour de force by our team in the Center for Drug Discovery at Baylor and our collaborators,” said co-author Dr. Mingxing Teng, assistant professor of pathology and immunology and of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at Baylor. Teng also is a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas Scholar and a member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. “Starting with a genetically validated contraceptive target, we were able to show that STK33 is also a chemically validated contraceptive target.”

“In the next few years, our goal is to further evaluate this STK33 inhibitor and compounds similar to CDD-2807 in primates to determine their effectiveness as reversible male contraceptives,” Matzuk said.

Reference: Ku AF, Sharma KL, Ta HM, et al. Reversible male contraception by targeted inhibition of serine/threonine kinase 33. Science. 2024;384(6698):885-890. doi: 10.1126/science.adl2688

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.New Drug Affecting Sperm Motility Shows Promise as Male Birth Control Pill | Technology Networks:

Read More........→June 12, 2024

Why Men Find Switching Tasks More Difficult Than Do Women

It has long been known to science that women find it easier than men to multitask and switch between tasks. But identifying exactly which areas of male and female brains respond differently and why has so far been unclear. According to researchers from the HSE Neurolinguistics Laboratory, men need to mobilise additional areas of their brain and use more energy than women when multitasking.

Why Men Find Switching Tasks More Difficult

Needing to switch attention between tasks causes stronger activation in certain brain regions in men compared to women.

Although women find it easier than men to switch between tasks; how exactly their brains function differently in such situations has so far been unknown. Recent research reveals that male brains appear to consume more energy when they need to shift attention. In addition to this, in men there is greater activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal areas of the brain compared to women, as well as activation in some other areas which is not usually observed in women.

Such differences are typical of younger men and women aged 20 to 45, according to findings from experiments conducted by researchers Svetlana Kuptsova and Maria Ivanova of the HSE Neurolinguistic Laboratory, radiologists Alexey Petrushevsky and Oksana Fedina of the Centre for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, and Ludmila Zhavoronkova, Doctor of Biology and Senior Research Fellow of the RAS Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology. The study's findings have been published in Human Physiology, an international peer-reviewed journal.

Higher Activity, Slower Speed

Regardless of gender and age, task switching always involves activation in certain areas of the brain, more specifically, bilateral activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal areas, inferior parietal lobes and inferior occipital gyrus.

However, experiments conducted by Kuptsova et al. demonstrate that in women, task switching appears to require less brain power compared to men, who showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal areas as well as the involvement of supplementary motor areas and insula, which was not observed in women.

"We know that stronger activation and involvement of supplementary areas of the brain are normally observed in subjects faced with complex tasks. Our findings suggest that women might find it easier than men to switch attention and their brains do not need to mobilise extra resources in doing so, as opposed to male brains," explained Kuptsova.

The experiments involved 140 healthy volunteers, including 69 men and 71 women aged between 20 and 65. The subjects were asked to perform a variety of tasks. In one of the experiments using functional MRI, they were asked to perform a test that required switching attention between sorting objects according to shape (round or square) and number (one or two), in a pseudo-random order. In addition to this, neuropsychological tests were conducted, including the D-KEFS Trail Making Test to measure the subjects' ability to switch attention and the Wechsler Memory Scale test to measure their audial and visual memory.

The use of functional MRI allowed the researchers not only to observe the subjects' behaviour, but also to see what was going on in the brain as subjects switched between tasks and detect differences in brain activation between men and women.

Age versus Gender

The researchers found that the gender differences in the extent of brain activation when switching between tasks only occurred in subjects younger that 45-50, while those aged 50 and older showed no gender differences either in brain activation or speed of task switching.

According to the researchers, older men and women - starting at the age of 45 in women and 55 in men - experienced both increased activation of key areas involved and mobilisation of additional brain resources.

Brain Mystery

The study has once again confirmed that young women tend to cope with attention switching better than young men. While the reaction time is demonstrably different, according to Kuptsova, it is barely noticeable in everyday life, except perhaps that, "it might make a difference in really stressful circumstances or in critical situations which require frequent switching of attention."

However, science cannot currently explain the exact reasons for this difference. Any assumptions as to why nature might need it are nothing but speculation, Kuptsova argues.

For example, there is a popular hypothesis by American psychologist Jerre Levy as to why men tend to have better spatial skills while women are often better at more verbal tasks. According to Levy, these differences are caused by both evolutionary and social factors. In ancient times, men spent their time hunting, which required good spatial abilities, while women were caring for children and thus needed good communication skills. In the course of evolution, these survival skills have been passed down to future generations.

"We could continue with the same logic and assume that homemaking and caring for children historically required women to be good at multitasking, but there is no hard evidence to support this theory," Kuptsova concludes.

The study was hosted by the Centre for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation.

Contacts and sources:

National Research University - Higher School of Economics (HSE)

Citation: Sex- and age-related characteristics of brain functioning during task switching (fMRI study) Authors Authors and affiliations S. V. KuptsovaEmail authorM. V. Ivanova, A. G. Petrushevskiy, O. N. FedinaL. A. Zhavoronkova. Human Physiology July 2016, Volume 42, Issue 4, pp 361–370 2016 DOI: 10.1134/S0362119716040101 Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/

Read More........→November 22, 2016

Fertilization technique to create baby with DNA from 3 people found in UK

Britain is planning to become the first country in the world to offer controversial "three-parent" fertility treatments to families who want to avoid passing on cureless diseases to their children. The methods, today only at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would for the first time include implanting genetically modified embryos into women. It involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. The methods are designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases - incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells. The potential treatment is known as three-parent in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the offspring would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor. Britain's fertility regulator says it has found broad public support for innovative in vitro fertilization techniques. It also found there was no evidence to suggest the techniques were unsafe, but said further research was still necessary. Critics, however, slammed the decision as a breach of ethics, saying there were already safe methods like egg donation to allow people to have children without mitochondria defects. Voice of Russia, Reuters, USA Today. Source: Article, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→December 04, 2013

The peculiar 3D model which allows parents to hold their baby... BEFORE it's even born

Expectant parents in Japan who can't wait to show the world what their baby will look like can now buy a 3D model of the foetus

Expectant parents who cannot wait to hold their new child can now buy a three-dimensional model of the foetus to cradle and show friends. Japanese inventors have devised a way to transform the commonplace ultrasound scan into an anatomically correct resin replica for parents to handle and keep as a memento. The nine-centimetre (3.6-inch) resin model of the white foetus, encased in a transparent block in the shape of the mother's body, is fashioned by a 3D printer after an MRI scan. FASOTEC, the company offering the 'Shape of an Angel' model, even offers parents a miniature version which could be a 'nice adornment to a mobile phone strap or key chain.' Tomohiro Kinoshita, of FASOTEC, said: 'As it is only once in a lifetime that you are pregnant with that child, we received requests for these kind of models from pregnant women who... do not want to forget the feelings and experience of that time.' The 'Shape of an

3D model of their unborn child's face

Angel' costs 100,000 yen (or around £760), and the company said the ideal time for a scan is around eight or nine months into the pregnancy. For those who would like a less pricey version, the company will start offering a 3D model of the face of the foetus at 50,000 yen - £380 - in December. It will use ultrasound images taken at a medical clinic in Tokyo that has forged a tie-up with the company. FASOTEC, originally a supplier of devices including 3D printers, uses a layering technique to build up three-dimensional structures. The company also produces 3D models of internal organs that can be used by doctors to plan surgery or by medical students for training, a spokesman said. It is also possible that models can be used in hospitals to better inform patients what their problems are, instead of relying on difficult-to-understand diagrams. The technology 'realises not only the form but also texture of the model -- for example making it hard or soft', the firm said . 'By making a model that is similar to a real organ or bone, one can simulate operations and practise different surgical techniques.' Kinoshita said the company hit upon the idea of making 3D models of unborn babies in the hope that people would become more aware of the technology. But there are medical benefits too. The company said some medics could also foresee diagnostic possibilities with the models that may help predict difficulties in the birthing process. Three-dimensional printers have been around for several decades but advances in the technology mean it is now gaining in popularity in several fields. The machines work in a similar way to an inkjet printer, but instead of ink they deposit layers of material on top of each other, gradually building up the product they are making. Where traditional manufacturing only becomes efficient with economies of scale because of the need to produce moulds, 3D printing is capable of producing single copies of relatively complicated objects. The technology is not yet advanced enough to build telephones or computers but it is already used to make components. Source: Ananta-Tec

Read More........→January 17, 2013

Terminator Arm Dad

Nigel Ackland, 53, a father who lost an arm in a work accident, had this bionic 'Terminator arm' fitted. He uses the new limb by sending signals from his brain and controling it with his upper arm.

This remarkable video composes us speculate — is there some sort of psychosomatic assessment before someone is given a robot-Terminator arm, or do doctors just cross their fingers and hope for the best? It seems like that could go really wrong. luckily, Nigel Ackland, 53, is using his  bionic arm for cracking eggs and torrential beers, rather than throttling somebody until their heart beats no more. Ackland lost part of his arm in an accident, and now for the first time in six years he can dress
himself, peel vegetables and shake hands with any person brave enough to stick their hand into a robot hand, gratitude to sensors in the arm that are attached to two muscles. Good job, science. Source: SpotINFO

Read More........→January 13, 2013

The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'

.

By Carol Clark: A neuro-imaging study shows that personal values that people refuse to disavow, even when offered cash to do so, are processed differently in the brain than those values that are willingly sold. “Our experiment found that the realm of the sacred – whether it’s a strong religious belief, a national identity or a code of ethics – is a distinct cognitive process,” says Gregory Berns, director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University and lead author of the study. The results were published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Sacred values prompt greater activation of an area of the brain associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, the study showed, as opposed to the regions linked to processing of costs-versus-benefits. Berns headed a team that included Emory economist Monica Capra; Michael Prietula, a professor of information systems and operations management at Emory's Goizueta Business School; a psychologist from the New School for Social Research and anthropologists from the Institute Jean Nicod in Paris, France. (Click here to see the full list of names.) The research was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation. “We’ve come up with a method to start answering scientific questions about how people make decisions involving sacred values, and that has major implications if you want to better understand what influences human behavior across countries and

cultures,” Berns says. “We are seeing how fundamental cultural values are represented in the brain.” The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record the brain responses of 32 U.S. adults during key phases of an experiment. In the first phase, participants were shown statements ranging from the mundane, such as “You are a tea drinker,” to hot-button issues such “You support gay marriage” and “You are Pro-Life.” Each of the 62 statements had a contradictory pair, such as “You are Pro-Choice,” and the participants had to choose one of each pair. Click here to download the full list of questions, and the responses by the subjects. At the end of the experiment, participants were given the option of auctioning their personal statements: Disavowing their previous choices for actual money. The participants could earn as much as $100 per statement by simply agreeing to sign a document stating the opposite of what they believed. They could choose to opt out of the auction for statements they valued highly. “We used the auction as a measure of integrity for specific statements,” Berns explains. “If a person refused to take money to change a statement, then we considered that value to be personally sacred to them. But if they took money, then we considered that they had low integrity for that statement and that it wasn’t sacred.” The brain imaging data showed a strong correlation between sacred values and activation of the neural systems associated with evaluating rights and wrongs (the left temporoparietal junction) and semantic rule retrieval (the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), but not with systems associated with reward. “Most public policy is based on offering people incentives and disincentives,” Berns says. “Our findings indicate that it’s unreasonable to think that a policy based on costs-and-benefits analysis will influence people’s behavior when it comes to their sacred personal

values, because they are processed in an entirely different brain system than incentives.” Research participants who reported more active affiliations with organizations, such as churches, sports teams, musical groups and environmental clubs, had stronger brain activity in the same brain regions that correlated to sacred values. “Organized groups may instill values more strongly through the use of rules and social norms,” Berns says. The experiment also found activation in the amygdala, a brain region associated with emotional reactions, but only in cases where participants refused to take cash to state the opposite of what they believe. “Those statements represent the most repugnant items to the individual,” Berns says, “and would be expected to provoke the most arousal, which is consistent with the idea that when sacred values are violated, that induces moral outrage.” The study is part of a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, titled “The Biology of Cultural Conflict.” Berns edited the special issue, which brings together a dozen articles on the culture of neuroscience, including differences in the neural processing of people on the opposing sides of conflict, from U.S. Democrats and Republicans to Arabs and Israelis. “As culture changes, it affects our brains, and as our brains change, that affects our culture. You can’t separate the two,” Berns says. “We now have the means to start understanding this relationship, and that’s putting the relatively new field of cultural neuroscience onto the global stage.” Future conflicts over politics and religion will likely play out biologically, Berns says. Some cultures will choose to change their biology, and in the process, change their culture, he notes. He cites the battles over women’s reproductive rights and gay marriage as ongoing examples.Source: eScienceCommons

Read More........→November 27, 2012

Male sheep and female deer are dear mates

Beijing, December 06: Staff at a wildlife park in southwest China have turned to the country's half a billion web users for advice after a male sheep and a female deer began mating -- and soon became inseparable. A posting on the park's microblog posed the question: "What do you do when a ram falls in love with a deer?" It asked readers whether they agreed it would be "unethical" to let the unusual pairing continue. "They do not want to be separated but it is unethical to let them go on,"said the posting, addressed to users of China's hugely popular weibos -- microblogging services similar to Twitter that have taken the country by storm. The romantic liaison hit headlines this week after a local television station in the southwestern province of Yunnan picked up on the story, reporting that attempts to separate the pair had been unsuccessful. The ram -- whose Chinese name Changmao means Long Hair -- had "completely integrated himself into deer society" after being placed in a pen with the animals, the Global Times daily reported. Source: Article

Read More........→November 01, 2012

Scientists to build ' Artificial human brain'; useful to cure brain disease

The human brain’s power could rival any machine. And now scientists are trying to build one using the world’s most powerful computer. It is intended to combine all the information so far uncovered about its mysterious workings - and replicate them on a screen, right down to the level ofindividual cells and molecules. Supercomputer will simulate the entire mind and will help fight against brain diseases If it works it could be revolutionary for understanding devastating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and even shedding light into how we think, and make decisions. Leading the project is Professor Henry Markram based in Switzerland, who will be working with scientists from across Europe including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute at Cambridge. They hope to complete it within 12 years. He said: ‘The complexity of the brain, with its billions of interconnected neurons, makes it hard for neuroscientists to truly understand how it works. ‘Simulating it will make it much easier – allowing them

to manipulate and measure any aspect of the brain.’Housed at a facility in Dusseldorf in Germany, the ‘brain’ will feature thousands of three-dimensional images built around a semi-circular ‘cockpit’ so scientists can virtually ‘fly’ around different areas and watch how they communicate with each other. It aims to integrate all the neuroscience research being carried out all over the world – an estimated 60,000 scientific papers every year - into one platform. The project has received some funding from the EU and has been shortlisted for a 1 billion euro (£825million) EU grant which will be decided next month. When complete it could be used to test new drugs, which could dramatically shorten the time required for licencing them than human trials, and pave the way for more intelligent robots and computers. But Prof Markram said: ‘This will, when successful, help two billion people annually who suffer from some type of brain impairment. They have also simulated part of a rat’s brain using a computer. But the human brain is a totally different proposition. Our brains have 100 billion neurons. Each one performs billions of ‘calculations’ per second – roughly similar to a desktop computer. So the brain computer will need to be able to do a billion billion calculations which will require the output of a nuclear power station. Finding a way to power the supercomputer will be one of the researchers’ major challenges. The brain is still largely an unknown quantity for researchers and unravelling its mysteries - which have evolved over millions of years - is widely considered the final frontier of science. Richard Walker, who works with Professor Markram, said: ‘Our brains consume tiny amounts of energy but they last for 90 or more years. ‘At the moment we cannot even afford to run the biggest computers we could build, so if we can find out how the brain works, it could bring huge advances.’ Disorders of the brain, from depression and mental illness to the diseases of old age such as Alzheimer’s – which affects 800,000 people in Britain– are also a growing problem. David Cameron recently pledged £66million to fund research into the ‘national crisis’ of dementia. Source: Ananta-Tech

Read More........→October 27, 2012

PM announces $50 million for bio-diversity conservation

HYDERABAD: The  Prime Minister  Tuesday announced 50 million U.S. dollars to strengthen the institutional mechanism for bio-diversity conservation in India. Addressing the 11th Conference of Parties on Convention on Biological Diversity here, Dr. Manmohan Singh said thesefunds will be used to enhance the technical and human capability of the national and state level mechanisms to attain objectives of convention on bio diversity. He said government has also earmarked funds to promote capacity building in developing countries. The Prime Minister said, developing new models of inclusive conservation is a challenge to protect environment and ecology in future. Stating that India has recently ratified Nagoya Protocol, he said global action on achieving UN targets of Biodiversity can not be delayed further and called upon member countries to follow suit. Dr Singh reiterated that India stands committed to biodiversity conservation linked with poverty reduction programmes. He explained about how livelihood is being provided to rural people under the Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Programme which in turn is also facilitating conservation of resources Dr. Singh asserted that his government has legalised the rights of forest dwellers by passing Forest Rights Act and similar innovative approaches are under way to deal with the issue of protecting fishermen livelihoods. Outlining the measures being taken by India for protecting the endangered species, the Prime Minister said the Species Recovery Programme launched by the country has helped to protect 16 endangered species including Snow Lepeord and Lungoor. He said 600 protected areas covering 5 percent geographical area in the country are being conserved. In her opening remarks, Union Environment and forests Minister, Jayanthi Natarajan expressed concern that resource mobilization remained as most unfinished agenda in CoP11 deliberations so far and called upon participant countries to arrive at consensus on it soon. Source: The Indian Awaaz, Image: pixabay.com Under Creative Commons CC0

Read More........→October 17, 2012

Americans win chemistry Nobel prize for cell proteins research

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz  and Brian Kobilka of the US for groundbreaking discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family of cell receptors, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences reported Wednesday. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement the 8 million crown ($1.2 million) prize went to Robert Lefkowitz 
and Brian Kobilka for discovering the inner workings of G-protein-coupled receptors. Chemistry was the third of this year's Nobel prizes. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. ($1 = 6.6125 Swedish crowns) On Thursday, the winner of the Literature Prize will be announced. Reuters, RIA  Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→October 11, 2012

French and American scientists win Nobel Physics Prize

2012 Nobel Prize for physics laureates Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm. Reuters

A French-American duo shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for inventing methods to observe the bizarre properties of the quantum world, research that has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers. Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland opened the door to new experiments in quantum physics by showing how to observe individual quantum particles without destroying them. That was previously thought impossible because single quantum particles lose their mysterious quantum properties when they interact with the outside world, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. A quantum particle is one that is isolated from everything else. In this situation, an atom or electron or photon takes on strange properties. It can be in two places at once, for example. It behaves in some ways like a wave. But these properties are instantly changed when it interacts with something else, such as when somebody observes it. Working separately, the two scientists, both 68, developed "ingenious laboratory methods" that allowed them to manage and measure and control fragile quantum states, the academy said. The laureates "Their ground-breaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the very first steps towards building a new type of superfast computer 

A graphic featuring work by Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of US who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics. AFP photo

based on quantum physics," the academy said. "The research has also led to the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the future basis for a new standard of time." Wineland traps ions electrically charged atoms and measures them with light, while Haroche controls and measures photons, or light particles. Haroche, of the College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, said he was out walking with his wife when he got the call from the Nobel judges. "I was in the street and passing a bench so I was able to sit down," Haroche told a news conference in Stockholm by telephone. "It's very overwhelming." Wineland is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. The physics prize was the second of the 2012 Nobel Prizes to be announced, with the medicine award going Monday to stem cell pioneers John Gurdon of Britain and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka. Each
award is worth 8 million kronor, or about $1.2 million. Only two women have won the physics prize since it was first awarded in 1901: Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. The prizes are always handed out on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. A glance at the Nobel Prize for physics: Who won? Frenchman Serge Haroche of the College de France and Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, and American David Wineland of the University of Colorado in Boulder. For what? The two were cited for inventing and developing methods for observing tiny quantum particles without destroying them. The significance? Their research has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks that could become the basis for a new standard of measuring time and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers. What they said? Haroche: "It's very overwhelming. ... At first I called my children. ... There are a lot of people in the world that deserve the prize so I tried to not to expect too much." Wineland: "It was certainly surprising, and kind of overwhelming right now...I feel like I got a lot smarter overnight. ... When they also told me that the prize was shared with a good friend, that was nice to hear, too." Source: Hindustan Times

Read More........→October 10, 2012

Scientists can now read our minds

Do you believe that some one can read what are you thinking about? If notReading mind is not far away if the research will go on right way. It may seem like something from a science fiction but scientists claim they have found a way to read the human mind. Researchers at University of California-Los Angeleshave developed what they call 'brain reading' method that uses past history to determine future cognitive patterns and thought process, the Daily Mail reported. The researchers compare the results to Google's predictive search capability, when the website guesses what search terms users are typing before they finish. The study, led by author Ariana Anderson, a post-doctoral fellow in the Integrative Neuroimaging Technology lab at the university, was performed onsmokers experiencing nicotine cravings. Durin the study, MRI brain wave data was analysed to determine which regions of the brain and which neural networks are responsible for resisting nicotine addiction. Source; The Ultimate Update

Read More........→September 10, 2012

Is a male contraceptive on the way?

American researchers may have found an effective and hormone-free birth control pill for men. A study in the journal Cell shows that a small molecule makes male mice reversibly infertile without putting a damper on their sex drive. When the animals stop taking this new form of birth control, their sperm rebound and they are again able to sire perfectly healthy offspring. "This compound produces a rapid and reversible decrease in sperm count and motility with profound effects on fertility," said lead author James Bradner of the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute. A male birth control pill hasn't been easy to come by in large part because of the challenge of getting any drug across the blood:testis barrier, where it can reach the sperm-generating cells. Known as JQ1, the compound targets a testis-specific protein called BRDT that is essential for fertility. When mice are given the BRDT-inhibiting molecule, they begin producing fewer sperm and those sperm they do produce don't swim as well. There are no apparent adverse effects on the males' future offspring. "We envision that our discoveries can be completely translated to men, providing a novel and efficacious strategy for a male contraceptive," the researchers wrote. However, not everyone is convinced. “They’ve found a nice system for studying spermatogenesis, but it would be a stretch to say that there’s a human application in the near future,” Mark Gill, of the Novartis Research Foundation in Switzerland, told Nature. He points out that there could have been developmental abnormalities unnoticed by the researchers or problems which develop later in life. Drug companies have stopped working on male contraceptives because it is too risky. Source: BioEdge

Read More........→August 18, 2012

Japanese scientists create first swimming robot

Don't be amazed if organisers have to spot check for Japanese robots clinching the swimming medals at the next Olympics. For a team at the Tokyo University of Technology has created a 'Swumanoid' robot using a 3D scanner to perfectly map a human swimmer's physique, which has perfected the back-stroke and tries freestyle swimming. Apart from life-saving ambitions, the Swumanoid can be useful in helping research into swimming. The team, led by associate professor Motomu Nakashima, hopes that eventually robots like the Swumanoid can act as robot lifeguards, patrolling our shores and helping swimmers in distress, the 'Daily Mail' reported. It is difficult to secure motion-sensing pads to swimmers in the water, and it is also difficult for swimmers to perfectly repeat repetitive actions over and over. Swumanoids can do this well, helping researchers measure various elements like the force required to propel swimmers through the water. The research team created Swumanoid by using a 3D scanner to perfectly map a human swimmer's physique. These measurements were used to create the robot, with 20 waterproof, computer-controlled motors providing the swimming motion. The robot can currently swim the backstroke and the front crawl, but he will need a new pair of legs before he can tackle the breast-stroke. However, with a pace of six metres per second, Swumanoid swims at just a third of the fastest human world record. Source: Indian Express

Read More........→August 12, 2012

Has God Particle finally been found? Scientists prepare to announce new results

The hunt for the God Particle could be close to completion as scientists prepare to reveal the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider ahead of a major conference next week. Scientists from Cern will announce on Wednesday whether the tantalising "hints" of the Higgs Boson which they presented in December have been strengthened or grown weaker over the past six months. Although the results may not be strong enough to declare an official discovery, they are rumoured to show very similar signals to those announced last year which back up the previous findings. Independent experts said a replication of the same results would leave little doubt that the "hints" were genuine, indicating that the sought after particle, or something resembling it, exists. Finding the Higgs Boson would provide the last piece of evidence for the Standard Model, the most widely accepted explanation of how the Universe works. The particle, first proposed in theory by British physicist Peter Higgs in 1964, would prove the existence of the Higgs Field, an invisible force which gives particles their mass and prevents them from whizzing through the universe at the speed of light. Source: The Coming Crisis

Read More........→June 30, 2012

Scientists discover 'tropical' lake of methane near equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan

Scientists have discovered a methane-rich tropical lake and several ponds near the equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan. Lakes were previously spied near Titan's polar regions but it was previously believed that bodies of liquid could not exist at Titan's midsection because energy from the sun at those latitudes would cause methane pools to evaporate. 'This discovery was completely unexpected because lakes are not stable at tropical latitudes,' said planetary scientist Caitlin Griffith of the University of Arizona, who led the discovery team. By measuring reflected sunlight from Titan's surface and atmosphere, the international

Read More........→June 28, 2012

Scientists Identify Difference Between Love And Lust In The Brain

Is it love or lust? A new study co-authored by Concordia University professor Jim Pfaus shows that in the human brain you can't have one without the other. "No one has ever put these two together to see the patterns of activation," said Pfaus, whose study showed an overlap in the areas of the brain that are stimulated by love and by sexual desire. The psychology professor explained that the brain can't divorce love from reward and desire. "It really grows out of it. And you need desire there to keep the love alive." Along with researchers in the U.S. and Switzerland, Pfaus looked at the results from 20 different studies that examined brain activity as subjects looked at exotic pictures and photos of their partners. Researchers found that in each case the photos activated areas of the striatum, which is located inside the forebrain. According to the study, the area of the striatum that's triggered by sexual desire is usually activated by things that are naturally pleasurable, such as food or sex, while the area triggered by love is conditioned by moments linked to rewards or pleasures. "When we have love at first sight, is there ever a time that we don't want to consummate that love by having sex? I don't think so," Pfaus told CTVNews.ca However, he noted that love and desire affect the brain in very different ways. "It's not like love is lust taken to the tenth degree," said Pfaus. He explained that feelings of love involve the bonding mechanism of oxytocin, known as the love hormone, and dopamine, which controls the brain's reward and pleasure centres. Pfaus said researchers were surprised to find that the area of the brain associated with love is also associated with addiction. "When your lover says I'm not going to see you anymore, you don't say, ‘I'll just find another.' You start acting like a drug addict. You search for that, you beg for it and you want it. It's as if your heart has been ripped out." Pfaus explained that love is actually a habit that is formed from sexual desire as that desire is rewarded. "It works the same way in the brain as when people become addicted to drugs," he said. He pointed to studies that show a deactivation in certain parts of the brain when someone falls out of love. Pfaus said the study sheds a new light on addiction and its impact on the human brain.Source: Article, Image 

Read More........→June 24, 2012

Scientists create world’s smallest hard drive from just 96 atoms

Nanotechnology deals in making or developing materials, devices or structures by manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. It is very diverse. Now, scientists from IBM and German Center for Free-Electron Laser service have invented the world’s smallest hard drive with the help of nanotechnology. Scientists have just used 96 atoms to create data worth one byte. Drives used today at least require half a billion atoms for each byte. It won’t be long when one would find hard drive of the size of rice grains, and music players would

Read More........→June 23, 2012

Swiss scientists create mind controlled robot for disabled patients

A team of scientists at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a robot that can be controlled using only your mind. The new technology involve a quadriplegic man wearing cap to record his brain signals, which were then transferred to a small wheeled robot that he could move left and right simply by thinking it. While the technology has the potential to give immobile patients the ability to see areas outside of their hospital bed. There are a few issues that still need to be addressed. Major among them is the fact that the system requires complete concentration — if you get distracted in any way the signal will degrade. In order to combat this the research team is hoping to make the technology work more like a human brain. So if you give it a command to walk, for instance, the robot will keep doing so until you either tell it to stop or it hits some sort of obstacle. According to the creators, a home version could be ready in "a matter of years." Source: Bisarbeat

Read More........→May 02, 2012