The It Ain't Magic Science Blog

RIKEN Research Winter Issue

It’s almost the end of the year and a here’s an early holiday present! The winter issue of RIKEN Research is here, covering plant parasites, depression, atomic clocks, and more! Enjoy!

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Laser melting ice-core sampler for studying climate change

This laser melting ice core sampler can determine temperature changes thousands of years ago on very fine timescale.

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Heat used to transform antiskyrmions to skyrmions and back

Scientists discover a way to transform antiskyrmions to skyrmions and back using heat and magnetic fields.

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New lab-grown retinal sheets almost ready for clinical trials

A new retinal transplant technique works by preventing bipolar cells from maturing in lab-grown retinal sheets.

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Chaos theory provides hints for controlling the weather

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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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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Topics

Latest research animations

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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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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Microcolumns: elementary neuronal units that carpet the (mouse) brain

A hexagonal lattice organizes major cell types in the cerebral cortex, with similar cells synchronizing their activity in microcolumns.

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Freedom from fear ?‍♀️

Researchers discover a dopaminergic circuit in the brain that allows fear associations to disappear when there isn’t anything to be afraid of anymore.

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Simple but revolutionary modular organoids

A new way to construct complex 3D organoids without using elaborate techniques! The trick using modular cubes with hydrogel layers.

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Palaeospondylus: mystery of vertebrate evolution solved

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

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Random movements help color-detecting cells form the proper pattern

Scientists have used a mathematical model to explain why zebrafish cone cells in the eye are arranged in a specific pattern in all individuals.

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Jul

Tracking how stars grow up in a virtual playground

by amanda alvarez | Research Highlight

Amanda Alvarez writes about Steven Rieder and his research in modeling clusters of growing new stars.

Jul

Protons are lighter than previously thought

by jens wilkinson | Hot Off the Press

A new and most precise measurement of protons shows that they are lighter than previously thought.

Jul

Untangling depression in Huntington’s disease

by riken research highlights | Research Highlight

New research implicates clumps of insoluble, misfolded proteins in the development of mental illness in people with Huntington’s disease

Jul

Imaging whole-body cancer metastasis at the single-cell level

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A new optical clearing method allows imaging of cancer metastasis at incredibly high resolution.

Jun

Meet the editors: the growing pains of scientific publishing

by amanda alvarez | What's Up With Us

Amanda Alvarez writes about the recent seminars at RIKEN by Philip Campbell and Emilie Marcus, the editors-in-chief of Nature and Cell.

May

Carbon nanotubes, what are they good for?

by kylius wilkins | Interviews, What's Up With Us

Kylius Wilkins talks to Urs Frey and his recent success manufacturing carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

May

Finding real rewards in a virtual world

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A new study shows that mice who learn to find goals in virtual reality use their hippocampus the same was as in the real world.

Apr

RIKEN is looking for you

by adam phillips | What's Up With Us

RIKEN is looking for you. Check out our new introductory videos! learn about exotic nuclei and much much more.

Apr

Promising mouse model for Ngly1 deficiency

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

A recent study of Ngly1 deficient mice used a secondary knockout to create double knockouts with symptoms similar to human NGLY1 deficiency.

Artificial gravity protects the immune system of mice in space

Mice who experienced artificial gravity on the ISS suffered less damage to their immune system (thymus) than weightless mice did.

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New lab-grown retinal sheets almost ready for clinical trials

A new retinal transplant technique works by preventing bipolar cells from maturing in lab-grown retinal sheets.

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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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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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Apr

Opto-OISI: imaging connections in the living brain

by amanda alvarez | Hot Off the Press

A new imaging technique called opto-OISI allows scientists to non-invasively visualize where specific neurons project in the living brain.

Apr

Flies smell through a gore-tex system

by masataka sasabe | Hot Off the Press

The newly named gore-tex gene is responsible for the development of nanopores that allow chemicals in the air to be detected (in flies).

Apr

Protein pileup affects social behavior through altered brain signaling

by amanda alvarez | Hot Off the Press

When a normal cellular cleanup process is disrupted, social behavior in mice is disrupted and they start behaving in ways that resemble human symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

Mar

The joys of computational mass spectrometry

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

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).