Artificial Ocean-fertilizing

Artificial ocean-fertilizing to mitigate global warming?

Researchers have identified that algal growth in the oceans may help in sequestering carbon in the sea floors for centuries. Debates are ongoing if the method should be pursued. Read more here and here.
(The picture above was adopted from here.)

Paintable Batteries

The picture above shows a battery "painted" onto a ceramic mug. Imagine being able to "paint" a battery to any surface. That is exactly what scientists at Rice university have achieved! They have devised a method to paint batteries to any surface! This study has profound implications for energy storage. For more information, refer to their study here. The picture above was adopted from the same website.

Surviving Crashing Waves - The Seaweed Saga

Figure adopted from here.

Standing in the sea shore, with waves repeatedly and gently touching our legs is certainly something everyone of us enjoy. But can you imagine standing before crashing waves constantly? Seaweeds do! How do they survive this crashing waves has been intriguing scientists and we now have a clue! Research shows that the seaweeds "change shape" in order to survive the crashing waves. Read more on this here or here.

Ferroelectricity of Biomolecule: An Era of Bioelectronics to Come?

 

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories have found that glycine, the simplest building block of proteins, has ferroelectric properties. Ferroelectrics are materials that reversibly change their polarization under an external electric field. This property of the ferroelectric materials is significant in building memory devices. This discovery, as the researchers say, "paves way to a novel classes of bioelectronic logic and memory devices".

Although there is a long way to go before such molecules are used in practice, it is quite possible that we will be witnessing an era of bioelectronics in the years ahead.

Click here for the research article and here for the news piece.

*image adopted from here

Once-weekly drug for Diabetes

The US Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a diabetes drug that needs to be used only once a week, in contrast to other drugs which require daily dosages. The drug, named Bydureon is expected to be a competitor to the existing drugs.

Click here for more information.

Boosting Natural Defence

Gene therapy has long  focussed on manipulating the genome (cutting, pasting genes).  A recent technological innovation paves way to fight diseases without manipulating the genome circumventing many of the associated risks in the conventional method. By this method, the natural defense system of the body is boosted, which then helps to fight the disease.  

This study by Prof. Wahlestedt appears in Nature Biotechnology (click here).

Ctrl V + Ctrl C: Ethical Issues in Science

           
Owing to the importance, this time, I focus on Plagiarism in this column instead of any scientific advancements.

Followers of Indian science would have not missed the recent plagiarism issue in which Prof. Rao, scientific advisor to the Prime Minister of India, was caught in. A summary of the issue can be found here. After having come across such issues from people of such stature world-wide, I am really not surprised. Moroever, from a graduate student's view point, I understand how difficult it is to rephrase some of the sentences from the literature (that does not justify plagiarism, though). It is quite easy to write the results section when compared to the introduction section for this matter. However, what actually is more disheartening in this issue, and more distinct from other cases, is Prof. Rao's unwillingness to accept responsibility, despite the fact that he is listed as the senior author. I certainly do not understand this stance. If he has delegated the task to one of his colleagues, he should not claim authorship, least senior authorship! What appears to be a so simple and straight-forward logic to me, appears to have gone beyond the radar of the critical brain of the elite scientist. This brings skepticism to the his record of 1500+ publications. How many of the publications did he actually involve in? How many is he aware of?

I think this is a point of learning for scientists. If you are not involved in the work, do not claim authorship. It is a serious professional crime to do so. 

Tiny Doctors for the Brain Cells

What could tiny, smaller-than-dust particles do? How could they ever be useful? Researchers have found potential use for the tiny, smaller-than-dust particles called the Quantum dots. A recent study by Professor Lin at the University of Washington shows that the light-activated quantum dots can be used to "trigger" neurons. Such "triggering" of neural cells is quintessential for nerve signalling, something which is degenerated in people with conditions like the Alzheimers, epilepsy etc. The study has been reported in the latest issue of Biomedical Optics Express and is available  here.

DNA Origami: Art into Action!

If you thought origami refers to the art of folding paper, it is time revise your vocabulary! Scientists have been, for quite sometime now, able to fold/construct various shapes with DNA. For some interesting pictures click here. And now, scientists have been able to put this 'art' into 'action'!

'Nanorobots' made out of DNA have been successfully targeted to kill cancer cells! This study, by Prof. Church at Harvard Medical School, has been reported in the latest issue of Science.

Successful Gene Therapy Restores Vision

The success of gene therapeutic techniques is increasing. Recently, Prof. Jean Bennet and her colleagues have used gene therapy to significantly improve vision in three women who were born virtually blind. The study has been published in the Feb 8 issue of Science Translational Medicine.