You Must Stay Drunk On Writing So Reality Cannot Destroy You.

winter sunrise reflections

by Denny Bitte

Rabies Viruses Reveal Wiring in Transparent Brains

Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bonn have harnessed rabies viruses for assessing the connectivity of nerve cell transplants. Coupled with a green fluorescent protein, the viruses show where replacement cells engrafted into mouse brains have connected to the host neural network.

The research is in Nature Communications. (full open access)

“Conceited, spoiled, and arrogant- all of those things, of course, are true to the character. But she had courage and determination, and that, I think, is why women must secretly admire her.” -Vivien Leigh

Flowers

My Neighbor Totoro | Tonari no Totoro (1988, Japan)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki Cinematographer: Mark Henley

Researchers discover self-assembling 2D and 3D materials

Self-assembly of matter is one of the fundamental principles of nature, directing the growth of larger ordered and functional systems from smaller building blocks. Self-assembly can be observed in all length scales from molecules to galaxies. Now, researchers at the Nanoscience Centre of the University of Jyväskylä and the HYBER Centre of Excellence of Aalto University in Finland report a novel discovery of self-assembling two- and three-dimensional materials that are formed by tiny gold nanoclusters of just a couple of nanometres in size, each having 102 gold atoms and a surface layer of 44 thiol molecules. The study, conducted with funding from the Academy of Finland and the European Research Council, has been published in Angewandte Chemie.

The atomic structure of the 102-atom gold nanocluster was first resolved by the group of Roger D Kornberg at Stanford University in 2007. Since then, several further studies of its properties have been conducted in the Jyväskylä Nanoscience Centre, where it has also been used for electron microscopy imaging of virus structures. The thiol surface of the nanocluster has a large number of acidic groups that can form directed hydrogen bonds to neighbouring nanoclusters and initiate directed self-assembly.

Read more.

A research group at MIT has created a new class of fast-acting, soft robots from hydrogels. The robots are activated by pumping water in or out of hollow, interlocking chambers; depending on the configuration, this can curl or stretch parts of the robot. The hydrogel bots can move quickly enough to catch and release a live fish without harming it. (Which is a feat of speed I can’t even manage.) Because hydrogels are polymer gels consisting primarily of water, the robots could be especially helpful in biomedical applications, where their components may be less likely to be rejected by the body. For more, see MIT News or the original paper. (Image credit: H. Yuk/MIT News, source; research credit: H. Yuk et al.)

Insecticides Mimic Melatonin, Creating Higher Risk of Diabetes

Synthetic chemicals commonly found in insecticides and garden products bind to the receptors that govern our biological clocks, University at Buffalo researchers have found. The research suggests that exposure to these insecticides adversely affects melatonin receptor signaling, creating a higher risk for metabolic diseases such as diabetes.

The research is in Chemical Research in Toxicology. (full access paywall)