The It Ain't Magic Science Blog

Cyborg microchip valve driven by earthworm muscle

This earthworm muscle-controlled biological microelectromechanical system (bio‐MEMS) could lead the way to next-generation medical implants.

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Diazoxide pills for Alzheimer’s disease?

Drug therapy with with diazoxide relieved symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of mice and improved memory.

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Kleefstra syndrome in mice reversed after birth

Researchers used a postnatal supply of GLP to reverse neural and behavioral symptoms of Kleefstra syndrome in mice!

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Super-thin wearable electronics just got more flexible

A method for making super-flexible and ultra-thin wearable electronics uses water-vapor plasma to create gold-gold bonds.

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Supermassive black holes still dark and mysterious

For the first time, scientists have measured the strength of magnetic fields near supermassive black holes and something doesn’t add up.

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Protein antigens in meat, milk, and other foods suppress gut tumors

Food antigens were found to prevent small intestinal tumors in gut-tumor prone mice by making ensuring we have enough T cells for defense.

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Self-assembly of spider silk

This gut microbe might protect against diabetes and reduce insulin resistance

NEW: One-way hydrogel guides motion of tiny worms!

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RIKEN at a glance

We’ve just gotten our order of RIKEN at a Glance booklets back from the printers, and they look fantastic. Follow the link to download your electronic copy now!

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The joys of computational mass spectrometry

Scientists have developed a new automated computational mass spectrometry system that can search an organism’s entire metabolome for as-yet-unknown metabolites (potential drugs).

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Green hydrogen production for fuel cells and fertilizers

A new method of water electrolysis avoids rare metals, making hydrogen production green and sustainable.

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Toward human hibernation: cold-resistant mouse stem cells

Cold-resistant stem cells from “deep torpor” mice are a big step toward understanding why tissue survives hibernation.

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Most precise measurement ever of proton magnetic moment

Using a sophisticated setup, scientists have made the most precise measurement to date of the proton magnetic moment.

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Plant hormone combats dehydration

Scientists show that CLE25 is a plant hormone that travels from roots to leaves and helps close stomata in times of dehydration stress.

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Jan

Godzilla-sized zooplankton for better aquafarming

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

Scientists have created extra large zooplankton to help feed the fish in aquafarms. The new plankton were created using an ion beam to generate mutations.

Dec

Electric rays to help us map the ocean floor

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Electric rays and sting rays could map the ocean floor through their natural behavior, helping us find resources and collect data on other ocean life.

Nov

Bacterial drug resistance studied by robotic E. coli evolution

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

Experimentally evolving E. coli under pressure from a large number of antibiotics was able to identify constraints underlying evolved drug resistance.

Nov

New artificial skin helps avoid animal testing

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

A new artificial skin that reproduces proper tension can be used to research skin function and disease while reducing the need to experiment on animals.

Oct

Social novelty in the brain: haven’t I seen you someplace before?

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Social novelty and contextual novelty are segregated in the SuM region of the hypothalamus and in projections to the hippocampus, allowing memories of meeting new people to be formed separately from memories of new places.

Sep

FABP4: A preschool-aged biomarker for autism

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Reduced FABP4 was found in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder, making it a potential new biomarker for the condition.

Sep

Microbial infections are a parasitic plant’s dream

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Parasitic plants use quinones produced by their host to attack. Now we know that crops produce quinones as an immune response against microbial infection. How can we protect crops from both kinds of attack?

Aug

Gut bacteria double team worsens symptoms of multiple sclerosis

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Joint activity of two gut bacteria leads to excessive MOG-specific T-cell activity and demyelination of neurons in the spinal cord of a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

Aug

Something smells fishy: categorizing odors in the brain

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

Calcium imaging and mathematical model explain how categories and mixtures of odors are represented in the fly brain and consistent across individual flies.

Diazoxide pills for Alzheimer’s disease?

Drug therapy with with diazoxide relieved symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of mice and improved memory.

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Talking science Illustration with Misaki Ouchida

Whether it’s bird anatomy or science cartoons, Masaki Ouchida can do it all. She spoke with us about her career in science illustration, from the US to Japan.

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Why (mouse) mothers take risks to protect their infants

The calcitonin receptor and its ligand amylin act in the brain to motivate mouse mothers to protect their pups, even in risky/dangerous situations.

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Next stop: clinical hair regeneration

A new recipe for continuous cyclical hair regeneration in mice. This means that the hair will continue to fall out and regrow like normal hair.

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Jun

Extra “eye” movements are the key to better self-driving cars

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

If self-driving cars make saccades like people, they might make fewer mistakes identifying important features of the road.

May

Palaeospondylus: mystery of vertebrate evolution solved

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Micro-CT scans using synchrotron radiation X-rays reveal Palaeospondylus morphology, finally allowing its placement on the evolutionary tree.

Apr

Xist knockout rescues miscarriages in mice

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Xist knockout rescues miscarriages in mice whose egg cells lack H3K27me3 epigenetic instructions.

Apr

A new type of cell death discovered in fly guts

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

A completely unknown type of cell death called “erebosis” has been discovered in the guts of the common fruit fly.

Apr

Diagnosing fetal heart disease benefits from explanatory AI

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Diagnosis accuracy improved when doctors used explanatory AI to help diagnose congenital heart disease from fetal ultrasound videos.

Apr

Chaos theory provides hints for controlling the weather

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

Computer simulations were used to show that small adjustments to certain variables in the weather system could modify weather phenomena such as sudden downpours.

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