Cubes of brain tissue allow drug discovery without animals

Modeling the blood-brain-barrier with brains-in-a-cube allows drug testing without the need for animals.
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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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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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Brainless memory makes the spinal cord smarter than previously thought

The spinal cord learns how to direct limb muscles to avoid aversive sensations and recalls the memories using separate neural circuitry. Oh, and without a brain!
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Stem cell exhaustion and proliferation: An aging fly’s tale

Blocking the gene ced-6 led to stem cell exhaustion in aging fruit flies and prevented repair of damaged intestines.
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Hibernation-like state can protect kidneys during heart surgery

Activating Q-neurons in the mouse brain led to a hibernation-like state that protected kidneys during heart surgery.
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Dec

11

Science communication symposium

Science communication symposium

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Friday I participated in a small symposium that focused on science communication (for institutions in Japan). We discussed using social media as a means to self-publish wow! and amazing! research findings. Here are some of my thoughts about how useful this plays out in Japan.

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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The free-energy principle explains neural network behavior

Scientists show that the free-energy principle can explain how neural networks work.
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Mutation links bipolar disorder to mitochondrial disease

ANT1 mutations found in bipolar disease that affect mitochondria lead to hyperexcitable serotonergic neuronal activity in the brain.

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New metalloenzyme system selectively targets cancer cells

Specific targeting of cancer cells and onsite drug synthesis has been achieved using a new artificial metalloenzyme delivery system.
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Clean and green: a moss that removes lead (Pb) from water

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

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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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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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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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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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Introducing Nikola, the emotional android boy

A new android named Nikola will help researchers study facial expressions, emotions, and social interactions.
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