Skip to main content

Posts

Wildlife conservation on ice: frozen zoos to save animals

  On the edge: Disease and habitat loss is decimating wild amphibian populations globally, with more than 200 species needing urgent intervention through captive breeding, says Dr. Simon Clulow. In a south-eastern suburb in Melbourne, there’s a zoo. It has no visitors, and there are no animals anywhere inside it. Rather, the Australian Frozen Zoo houses living cells and genetic material from Australian native and rare and exotic species. This place, and others like it, could be a big part of the future of conservation. Department of Biological Sciences’ Simon Clulow and his colleagues make the case for ‘biobanking’ in a recent piece in Conservation Letters. Clulow is keen to stress that this doesn’t mean getting rid of conventional zoos or captive breeding programs. “Captive breeding has had some wonderful successes, and there will always be a huge place for it,” he says. PhD student and lead author Lachlan Howell agrees. “It was captive breeding that brought the giant panda back from
Recent posts

Novel machine learning technique to identify structural similarities and trends in materials

  Low-dimensional uniform manifold approximation projection showing symmetry-aware image similarity from a database of greater than 25,000 piezoresponse force microscopy images. Credit: Joshua Agar/Lehigh University A novel neural network to understand symmetry, speed materials research. Using a large, unstructured dataset gleaned from 25,000 images, scientists demonstrate a novel machine learning technique to identify structural similarities and trends in materials for the first time. Understanding structure-property relations is a key goal of materials research, according to Joshua Agar, a faculty member in Lehigh University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. And yet currently no metric exists to understand the structure of materials because of the complexity and multidimensional nature of structure. Artificial neural networks, a type of machine learning, can be trained to identify similarities―and even correlate parameters such as structure and properties―but there a

Deep brain stimulation research shows promising results for treating parkinson’s disease

  Pulsed electrical stimulation drives cell-type specific neuromodulation.  Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have found a way to make deep brain stimulation (DBS) more precise, resulting in therapeutic effects that outlast what is currently available. The work, led by Aryn Gittis and colleagues in CMU’s Gittis Lab, will significantly advance the study of Parkinson’s disease.  DBS allows researchers and doctors to use thin electrodes implanted in the brain to send electrical signals to the part of the brain that controls movement. It is a proven way to help control unwanted movement in the body, but patients must receive continuous electrical stimulation to get relief from their symptoms. If the stimulator is turned off, the symptoms return immediately. Gittis, an associate professor of biological sciences in the Mellon College of Science and faculty in the Neuroscience Institute, said that the new research could change that. “By finding a way to intervene that has long-lasti

Regenerating cells that propagate heartbeats

The mouse atrioventricular (AV) node. Green staining indicates AV node cells, while red staining highlights neighboring atrial muscle cells. All cell nuclei are stained blue. Specialized cells that propagate heartbeats have the capacity to regenerate after birth, study by UT Southwestern scientists shows. Specialized cells that conduct electricity to keep the heart beating have a previously unrecognized ability to regenerate in the days after birth, a new study in mice by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The finding, published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could eventually lead to treatments for heart rhythm disorders that avoid the need for invasive pacemakers or drugs by instead encouraging the heart to heal itself. Nikhil V. Munshi, M.D., Ph.D. “Patients with arrhythmias don’t have a lot of great options,” said study leader Nikhil V. Munshi, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Molecular Biology, and in the Eugene McDermot

Nasa’s Mars perseverance “Kodiak” moment – Jezero Crater’s Lake is more complicated and intriguing than thought

The escarpment the science team refers to as “Scarp a” is seen in this image captured by Perseverance rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on April 17, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Pictures from NASA’s latest six-wheeler on the Red Planet suggest the area’s history experienced significant flooding events. A new paper from the science team of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover details how the hydrological cycle of the now-dry lake at Jezero Crater is more complicated and intriguing than originally thought. The findings are based on detailed imaging the rover provided of long, steep slopes called escarpments, or scarps in the delta, which formed from sediment accumulating at the mouth of an ancient river that long ago fed the crater’s lake. The images reveal that billions of years ago, when Mars had an atmosphere thick enough to support water flowing across its surface, Jezero’s fan-shaped river delta experienced late-stage flooding events that carried rocks and debris into it from the hi

Scientists develop new “unbreakable glass” inspired by nature – 3x stronger, 5x more fracture-resistant

Shiny nacre of Abalone washed ashore.  Strongest and toughest glass known developed by McGill University scientists. Scientists from McGill University develop stronger and tougher glass, inspired by the inner layer of mollusk shells. Instead of shattering upon impact, the new material has the resiliency of plastic and could be used to improve cell phone screens in the future, among other applications. While techniques like tempering and laminating can help reinforce glass, they are costly and no longer work once the surface is damaged. “Until now there were trade-offs between high strength, toughness, and transparency. Our new material is not only three times stronger than the normal glass, but also more than five times more fracture-resistant,” says Allen Ehrlicher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill University. (A) Glass composite (without index-matching strategy on left and with index-matching on right), (B) Glass composite’s microstructure, (C) Vie

The strange afterglow of a gamma-ray burst – unusual features challenge models

  Flash in space: An artist’s view of a gamma-ray burst. Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab Using the H.E.S.S. observatory, researchers at GRB 190829A observe unusual features that challenge models. Researchers from the H.E.S.S. Collaboration succeeded to derive the intrinsic spectrum of the very-high-energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a relatively nearby gamma-ray burst. Surprisingly, the gamma-ray spectrum resembles that of the much lower-energy X-rays, while the fading emission from both bands was observed to march in parallel over three nights. These remarkable findings challenge the current emission scenarios. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are bright X-ray and gamma-ray flashes observed in the sky, emitted by distant extragalactic sources. They are associated with the creation or merging of neutron stars or black holes; processes that result in an explosive outburst of material moving incredibly close to the speed of light. The initial flashes, which last a few seconds, are fol