The It Ain't Magic Science Blog

Melatonin in mice, circadian rhythms, and daily torpor

A new breed of lab mouse allows the study of naturally occurring melatonin. These mice will adjust better to jetlag than regular lab mice and experience daily torpor.

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Researchers create a functional salivary gland organoid ?

Scientists have succeeded in growing three-dimensional salivary gland tissue that produced saliva like normal glands when implanted into mice.

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Smoker gut bacteria reduce bowel inflammation in ulcerative colitis

Mouth bacteria that settle in the guts of smokers activate helper T-cells that counter inflammation in ulcerative colitis.

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Dopamine reduces beta-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease

Increasing dopamine in the brains of AD model mice led to increased neprilysin, which broke down amyloid-beta plaques and improved memory.

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Understanding non-coding DNA: gene “enhancers”

NETCAGE is a newly developed technique for determining the structure of portions of the non-coding genome called ‘enhancers.’

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Mathematical model predicts self-organized learning in real neurons

The free energy principle predicted how real neural connections changed as neurons “learned” in a dish.

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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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Opossums are the first genome edited marsupials

A new piezoelectronic microinjection method has allowed the first successful genome editing in marsupials: albino opossums.

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Diagnosing fetal heart disease benefits from explanatory AI

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

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Brain clock ticks differently in autism

A new brain imaging study shows that autistic severity is linked to how long certain regions of the brain store information.

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Bacterial drug resistance studied by robotic E. coli evolution

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

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Decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 series — installment #2: RIKEN CBS Unit Leader Rei Akaishi talks about government decision-making during the pandemic.

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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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Mar

Heat shock system helps dried up bug come back to life

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

An international collaboration has determined that cooption of the Heat Shock Factor (HSF) gene system is what allows larvae of the sleeping chironomid to be able to survive severe desiccation.

Feb

In living color: imaging the brain with synthetic bioluminescence

by admin | Hot Off the Press

A new way to image the brain from outside the head using bioluminescence.

Feb

Deep-brain exploration with nanomaterials

by admin | Hot Off the Press

A new way to optogenetically activate neurons deep in the brain using infrared light and upconversion nanoparticles. It’s non-invasive!

Feb

Running away from carbon dioxide: the terminal connection

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Even fish want to avoid carbon dioxide. Now we know that they can because of chemosensation and the Terminal Nerve.

Jan

Rainbow engineering to make the brain glow

by admin | Drop of science

Bar talk about tinkering with bioluminescent molecules from jellyfish, corals, and algae, figuring out how they work, and making them more useful for brain science.

Jan

Geostationary satellite enables better precipitation and flood predictions

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

Data from the Himawari-8 geosynchronous satellite was used in weather simulations to improve forecasts of sudden precipitation and tropical storm development.

Jan

Clean and green: a moss that removes lead (Pb) from water

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Scientists show that the moss Funaria hygrometrica can remove harmful lead from water when in the protonema stage of development.

Jan

The brain’s GPS has a buddy system

by admin | Hot Off the Press

In addition to encoding self location, brain cells in the rat hippocampus act like a GPS that encodes the location of other rats.

Dec

Leaky plants bad for drought resistance

by adam phillips | Research in Depth

The KAI2 receptor for compounds found in smoke helps plants retain water and survive during drought.

Eating a high fat diet without getting obese?

Scientists discover that without innate immune cells in the intestines, eating a high fat diet does not lead to obesity in mice.

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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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Social contact-seeking behavior and loneliness in the brain

Levels of the peptide amylin in the brain are related to loneliness; activating amylin neurons in the MPOA drives isolated mice to seek social contact.