The It Ain't Magic Science Blog

Protons are lighter than previously thought

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

Centennial RIKEN Research

???This Spring we’ve put together a special centennial issue of RIKEN Research ???

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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Blocking obesity with a protein-sugar combination

Discovery of an enzyme that prevents obesity in mice through glycosylation of a protein involved fat-cell differentiation.

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The first drug treatment for brain aneurysms (in mice)

Scientists discover that most aneurysms result from mutations. A mouse model shows they can be treated with drugs.

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Cancer cells killed with artificial glycosylated metalloenzyme

Scientists have developed two cancer therapies that use an artificial glycosylated metalloenzyme to specifically target cancer cells in mice.

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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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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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Summer fun: how plants beat the heat

Scientists have discovered a gene that allows plants to cope with extreme heat by changing the composition of chloroplast membranes.

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Memories are made of this ? ? – (Part 1)

Brain science ’round midnight episode 8: Thomas McHugh from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science discusses memories and the brain

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The brain’s GPS has a buddy system

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

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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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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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Jun

Meet the editors: the growing pains of scientific publishing

by admin | 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 admin | 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.

Apr

Nihonium walk of fame

by jens wilkinson | Drop of science, What's Up With Us

A nihonium walk of fame is being built to commemorate the discovery of the 113th element

Apr

New rice fights off drought

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

Researchers have created drought resistant transgenic rice using a gene from a small Eurasian flowering plant

Apr

Centennial RIKEN Research

by adam phillips | Hot Off the Press

???This Spring we’ve put together a special centennial issue of RIKEN Research ???

Mar

Don’t know anything about RIKEN?

by adam phillips | What's Up With Us

Don’t know anything about RIKEN? We’ve made a new RIKEN booklet that should help!

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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New treatment assembles cancer drug inside the body

Cancer drugs assembled inside the body on cancer cells should reduce harmful side effects to other tissue.

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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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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

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 admin | 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).