DE SCIENCE DISCOVERY

A new study shows how spike protein crosses the blood-brain barrier More and more evidence is coming out that people with COVID-19 are suffering from cognitive effects, such as brain fog and fatigue. And researchers are discovering why. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, like many viruses before it, is bad news for the brain. In a study published Dec.16 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers found that the spike protein, often depicted as the red arms of the virus, can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice. This strongly suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, can enter the brain. The spike protein, often called the S1 protein, dictates which cells the virus can enter. Usually, the virus does the same thing as its binding protein, said corresponding author William A. Banks, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Healthcare System physician and researcher. Banks said binding proteins like S1 usually by themselve

Music-induced emotions can be predicted from brain scans Researchers at the University of Turku have discovered what type of neural mechanisms are the basis for emotional responses to music. Altogether 102 research subjects listened to music that evokes emotions while their brain function was scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study was carried out in the national PET Centre.  The researchers used a machine learning algorithm to map which brain regions are activated when the different music-induced emotions are separated from each other. "Based on the activation of the auditory and motor cortex, we were able to accurately predict whether the research subject was listening to happy or sad music. The auditory cortex processes the acoustic elements of music, such as rhythm and melody. Activation of the motor cortex, then again, may be related to the fact that music inspires feelings of movement in the listeners even when they are listening to m

Vaping could cloud your thoughts, new studies suggest Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have uncovered an association between vaping and mental fog. Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14. While other studies have found an association between vaping and mental impairment in animals, the URMC team is the first to draw this connection in people. Led by Dongmei Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at URMC, the team mined data from two major national surveys. "Our studies add to growing evidence that vaping should not be considered a safe alternative to tobacco smoking," said study author Li. The studies, published in the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and

The DNA regions in our brain that contribute to make us human With only 1% difference, the human and chimpanzee protein-coding genomes are remarkably similar. Understanding the biological features that make us human is part of a fascinating and intensely debated line of research. Researchers at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the University of Lausanne have developed a new approach to pinpoint, for the first time, adaptive human-specific changes in the way genes are regulated in the brain. These results open new perspectives in the study of human evolution, developmental biology and neurosciences. The paper is published in Science Advances. Gene expression, not gene sequence To explain what sets human apart from their ape relatives, researchers have long hypothesized that it is not so much the DNA sequence, but rather the regulation of the genes (i.e. when, where and how strongly the gene is expressed), that plays the key role. However, precisely pinpointing t

Scientists show what loneliness looks like in the brain This holiday season will be a lonely one for many people as social distancing due to COVID-19 continues, and it is important to understand how isolation affects our health. A new study shows a sort of signature in the brains of lonely people that make them distinct in fundamental ways, based on variations in the volume of different brain regions as well as based on how those regions communicate with one another across brain networks. A team of researchers examined the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, genetics and psychological self-assessments of approximately 40,000 middle-aged and older adults who volunteered to have their information included in the UK Biobank: an open-access database available to health scientists around the world. They then compared the MRI data of participants who reported often feeling lonely with those who did not. The researchers found several differences in the brains of lonely people.

Naked mole rats kidnap each other's babies, and turn them into slaves Naked mole rats are beloved for having some of the strangest mammalian superpowers. They can resist cancers, defy the usual mammalian aging process, survive almost 20 minutes without oxygen, and tolerate surprisingly high levels of pain.  But it turns out these highly social freaks of nature have a nasty little secret that makes them more supervillain than superhero. Naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber) kidnap each other's babies and turn them into slaves. While naked mole rats themselves are small, up to 10 cm (4 inches) in length, they have massive colonies made up of highly co-operative individuals. These can have up to a staggering 300 workers – the largest known colonies among mammals – within which most individuals are sterile, just like in ants or bee colonies. In fact, these bucktoothed shriveled skin sacks seem to be doing their darndest to live like insects. Only one queen gets to rep

Alien hunters detect mystery signal coming from the closest star system Astronomers hunting for radio signals from alien civilizations have detected an "intriguing signal" from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star system to the sun,  The Guardian reported . The researchers are still preparing a paper on the discovery, and the data has not been made public, according to The Guardian. But the signal is reportedly a narrow beam of 980 MHz radio waves detected in April and May 2019 at the Parkes telescope in Australia. The Parkes telescope is part of the $100 million Breakthrough Listen project to hunt for radio signals from technological sources beyond the solar system. The 980 MHz signal appeared once and was never detected again. That frequency is important because, as Scientific American points out, that band of radio waves is typically lacking signals from human-made craft and satellites. Breakthrough Listen detects unusual radio signals all the ti

      Three Co - Founders Of Cell Theory This section of this article will be a discussion basically on the three Co- founders of the cell theory. Here this paper shall be discussing basically on who are those that postulated the cell theory ( modern cell theory). Matthias schleiden ( 1804 - 1881) was a German botanist and co - founder of cell theory, along with theodor schwann and Rudolf Von Virchow. the image above represent Rudolf Von Virchow Born in Hamburg, schleiden was educated at University of jena,, but he developed his love and passion for botany into a full - time pursuit. Schleiden liked or habit to study plants structure under the microscope. So he became a professor of botany at the University of jena, there he wrote contribution to our knowledge of phytogenesis ( 1838), in which he stated that all parts of plant organisms are composed of cells,as it was discussed before. However, schleiden and schwann became the first to formulate what was then an informal be

Kangaroos can intentionally communicate with humans, research reveals Animals that have never been domesticated, such as kangaroos, can intentionally communicate with humans, challenging the notion that this behaviour is usually restricted to domesticated animals like dogs, horses or goats, a first of its kind study from the University of Roehampton and the University of Sydney has found. The research which involved kangaroos, marsupials that were never domesticated, at three locations across Australia, revealed that kangaroos gazed at a human when trying to access food which had been put in a closed box. The kangaroos used gazes to communicate with the human instead of attempting to open the box themselves, a behaviour that is usually expected for domesticated animals. Ten out of 11 kangaroos tested actively looked at the person who had put the food in a box to get it (this type of experiment is known as "the unsolvable problem task"). Nine of the 11 kangaroos ad

          MICROGRAPHIA BY ROBERT HOOKE Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon. is a historically significant book by Robert Hooke about his observations through various lenses. It is particularly notable for being the first book to illustrate insects, plants etc. as seen through microscopes. Published in January 1665, the first major publication of the Royal Society, it became the first scientific best-seller[citation needed], inspiring a wide public interest in the new science of microscopy. It is also notable for coining the biological term cell.   OBSERVATIONS Hooke most famously describes a fly's eye and a plant cell (where he coined that term because plant cells, which are walled, reminded him of the cells in a honeycomb[1]). Known for its spectacular copperplate engravings of the miniature world, particularly its fold-out plates of insects, the text itself reinforces t

     HISTORY: The Early Microscopes The early microscope was a compound microscope, which uses at least two lenses. The mode of operation of this microscope was that; the objective lens is positioned close to the object and produces an image that is picked up and magnified further by the second lens, called the Eyepiece. Soon after the invention of the first microscope by Janssen, Galileo Galilei improved upon the compound microscope designed in 1609. Galileo then called his device an Occhiolino, or “little eye". So in 1665, Robert Hooke an English scientist which could be seen as the father of cell also improved the microscope and explained the structure of snowflakes, fleas, lice and plants. Early compounds microscopes provide more magnification than single lens microscope; however, they also distorted the image more. Moreover, a Dutch scientist Antoine Can Leeuwenhoek designed a high- powered single lens microscope. He was the first to describe sperm or (spermatozoa

       Who Discovered The First Microscope For decades, the only smallest thing that human being could see was as wide as a human hair. But, after the microscope was invented around 1590, suddenly we (Humans) saw a new world of different living things in our water, our food and under our nose.   But it was unclear about who invented the microscope. Some historians claimed that it was Hans Lippershey, who was famous for filling the first patent for a telescope. While other evidence points to Hans and Zacharias Janssen, a father- son team of spectacle makers living in the same town as Lippershey. Was it Janssen Or Lippershey? Hans Lippershey, which can also be spelled as Lippershey, was born in Wesel, Germany in 1570, but he moved to Holland, which at that time he was enjoying a period of innovation in art and science called “The Golden Age". Lippershey settled in Middelburg, where he made spectacles, binoculars and some of the earliest microscopes and telescopes.

Newly discovered fungi turn flies into zombies and devour them from the inside out This fly species (Coenosia tigrina) was infected with the fungus Strongwellsea tigrinae, which ripped holes into the fly’s abdomen. The fungus spores can spew through these holes. Two newly discovered fungi species have a similarly macabre mode of action: They eat flies alive while using them to drop spores on new victims.  The related species, Strongwellsea tigrinae and Strongwellsea acerosa, attack the fly species Coenosia tigrina and Coenosia testacea, which look like ordinary house flies but undergo a horrific change once they're invaded by the fungi. The fungi eat one or more holes in the abdomens of the flies and then produce clumps of orange spores, which spread by dropping out of the holes.  The infected, now-zombie flies remain alive for days during this process, meaning they inadvertently spread the spores far and wide, particularly when mating with other flies. Meanwhile, the f

                    Process Of Development    According to research and observations, scientist affirmed that there are four essential process by which a multicellular organisms is made, which are cell proliferation, cell specialization, cell interaction and cell movement. Cell proliferation       Cell proliferation refers to the process that result in an increase in the number of cells. It is a fundamental process among living organisms that is necessary for general development ( Embryonic development, organ growth and development as well as various physiological process).     This is the first process in the development of multicellular organisms which involves the growth and division of the cells. Here the cells divides through a process know mitosis ( Somatic cell division) producing two equal copies of themselves. During this process, growth factors signal pathways which serves to activate the cells to enter the cell cycle. This process of cell proliferatio

Evolution may be to blame for high risk of advanced cancers in humans Compared to chimpanzees, our closest evolutionary cousins, humans are particularly prone to developing advanced carcinomas -- the type of tumors that include prostate, breast, lung and colorectal cancers -- even in the absence of known risk factors, such as genetic predisposition or tobacco use. A recent study led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center helps explain why. The study, published December 9, 2020 in FASEB BioAdvances, suggests that an evolutionary genetic mutation unique to humans may be at least partly to blame. "At some point during human evolution, the SIGLEC12 gene -- and more specifically, the Siglec-12 protein it produces as part of the immune system -- suffered a mutation that eliminated its ability to distinguish between 'self' and invading microbes, so the body needed to get rid of it," said senior author Ajit

      DEVELOPMENT OF MULTICELLULAR ORGANISM The next step necessary for the evolutionary process of Multicellularity is the " Export- of- fitness" stage. This stage is also similar to the first stage, but this requires that cell work together for a common goal of reproducing more cohesive units, or individuals like themselves and thereby working in a concerted way towards the increase of their fitness. Once this is achieved, a distinct phenotype or form of organism exits.    Steps such as cell- to- cell adhesion or communication were achieved in plants, animals, fungi and algae. They differs among the major eukaryotic classes, yet an important aspect is that these Multicellular organisms all went through a similar series of steps on their way to becoming Multicellular, functional organisms. So , as a result of this evolutionary activities, Niklas then put forward that " this convergent evolution is well summarized by saying " There are many roads to Ro

New study shows that endothelial cell targeting could help fight COVID-19 symptoms...... For Covid-19 patients with serious lung disease, targeting endothelial cells -- cells that comprise the blood vessel wall which regulate oxygen exchange between airways and the bloodstream -- may be a novel approach restoring normal lung function. This hypothesis stems from a study by researchers in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and published in  mBio , the leading journal for the American Society for Microbiology. SARS-CoV-2 causes Covid-19, characterized by pulmonary edema, viral pneumonia, coagulopathy, inflammation and other physiological abnormalities. SARS-CoV-2 uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors to infect and damage ciliated epithelial vascular cells in the upper respiratory tract. Yet how SARS2 dysregulates vascular functions causing an acute respiratory distress syndro

           Development Of Multicellular organisms As it was said and been discussed in the earlier sections that after earth was formed, the first form of life to exit were the first cell ( prokaryotes or bacterias) usually unicellular organisms then leading to the development of multicellular organisms. So in order to fully understand how multicellular organisms were been developed, we need to firstly understand how multicellular life evolved. How Did Multicellular Life Evolved ?     According to research and observations, it was said and estimated that the first known single- celled organisms appeared on earth about 3.5 billion years ago, roughly a billion years after earth was formed. It tooks more complex form of life ( multicellular organisms) a longer period to evolved, because the Multicellular animals never appeared until about 600 million years ago.   The evolution of multicellular life from simpler i.e. unicellular microbes was a crucial important mome

Genetic Code And The RNA World In The Evolution Of Cell     The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on earth, in which self replicating or self multiplying RNA molecules proliferate s ( To increase or spread) before the evolution of DNA and proteins. To fully understand the origin and evolution of cells in present- day living cell, there is a need to consider how they arose in evolution. The most fundamental of this is the expression of hereditary information which requires extraordinary complex machinery and proceeds from DNA to protein through an RNA intermediate. RNA world existed on earth before modern cell arose. According to this hypothesis, RNA stored both genetic information and catalysed the chemical reactions in the primitive cells. Only later in evolutionary time did DNA take over as the genetic material and protein becomes the major catalyst and structural components of cells. RNA still catalyze several fundamental reactions in

                         MUSCLE CELL SECRET A muscle fiber consists of just one cell, but many nuclei. A team at the MDC led by Professor Carmen Birchmeier has now shown just how varied these nuclei are. The study, which has been published in  Nature Communications , can help us better understand muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Usually, each cell has exactly one nucleus. But the cells of our skeletal muscles are different: These long, fibrous cells have a comparatively large cytoplasm that contains hundreds of nuclei.  But up to now, we have known very little about the extent to which the nuclei of a single muscle fiber differ from each other in terms of their gene activity, and what effect this has on the function of the muscle. A team led by Professor Carmen Birchmeier, head of the research group on Developmental Biology / Signal Transduction at the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), has now unl

            How Does Oxygen Relate To The Eukaryotes     As we have emphasised before that the first cells ( the prokaryotes) were the first life form to have existed and this was about 1 billion years after earth formation.  During this time in the early earth ,were said that the prokaryotes were mostly ancestors due to early atmospheric conditions. For Eukaryotes to thrive, it was expedient that oxygen should had been than it was in the early earth. Why? Because, the more advanced these eukaryotic cells becomes, the more oxygen will be needed.  Many scientist believed that because the early earth had a very low or no amount of oxygen, that was why it took a long time for the Eukaryotic to emerge while the prokaryotes thrived successfully.    Eventually, the eukaryotes still came or emerged. The crucial questions we then need to ask ourselves is, How did oxygen come about to be utilizable? We can answer this by saying, during the prokaryotes reign , photosynthe