Now that daylight savings time has officially started, Iâve sent out my annual memo to the dogs, cat and chickens to âshut-up already and deal with it!â â like that ever helps. The adjustment around here takes awhile as morning schedules are modified and start times for just about everything get ignored, although I still get to school when itâs dark so not much has changed that way. Things will even out soon enough, though, and Iâll be back to procrastinating stuff just as much as before.
Iâm wandering about here in my classroom, having dismissed the kids for the afternoon, reflecting on the events of last year about this time when our world was forcefully âturned upside down.â I recall listening to a health official explaining over the radio back then that this particular virus was causing deep concern because people could become infected âcarriersâ and pass the virus to others before showing any symptoms of their own for up to
Credit: Marie Bannier-Hélaouët, copyright Hubrecht Institute
Researchers from the lab of Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) and the UMC Utrecht used organoid technology to grow miniature human tear glands that actually cry. The organoids serve as a model to study how certain cells in the human tear gland produce tears or fail to do so. Scientists everywhere can use the model to identify new treatment options for patients with tear gland disorders, such as dry eye disease. Hopefully in the future, the organoids can even be transplanted into patients with non-functioning tear glands. The results will be published in
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VIDEO: These videos show a white blood cell creating a protrusion to reach out to a foreign body. view more
Credit: Julien Husson, LadHyX, CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytec
Like a well-trained soldier, a white blood cell uses specialized abilities to identify and ultimately destroy dangerous intruders, including creating a protrusion to effectively reach out, lock-on, probe, and possibly attack its prey. Researchers reporting March 16 in
Biophysical Journal show in detail that these cells take seconds to morph into these highly rigid and viscous defensive units.
Senior author Julien Husson (@ julienhusson), a biophysicist at École Polytechnique near Paris, and collaborators showed previously that certain white blood cells, called T cells, can push and pull perceived threats via specialized connections. To exert such forces, a cell must reorganize its internal structure, making itself more rigid. In the current study, Husson s team devised a m
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IMAGE: Anna s hummingbird flying in the experimental setup, drinking sugar water from a fake flower. view more
Credit: Photo: Lentink Lab / Stanford University.
The hummingbird is named after its pleasant humming sound when it hovers in front of flowers to feed. But only now has it become clear how the wing generates the hummingbird s namesake sound when it is beating rapidly at 40 beats per second. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Sorama, a TU/e spin-off company, and Stanford University meticulously observed hummingbirds using 12 high-speed cameras, 6 pressure plates and 2176 microphones. They discovered that the soft and complex feathered wings of hummingbirds generate sound in a fashion similar to how the simpler wings of insect do. The new insights could help make devices like fans and drones quieter.
Somerset [UK], March 16 (ANI): The findings of a recent study by a team of sports nutritionists suggested that females who are fit and healthy tend to burn more fat when they exercise, in comparison to men.