“Walking” Sharks Among 50 New Species Found in Indonesia Reefs
“If they get spooked they can swim away, but the thing that stands out is their walking over the bottom,” Troeng said.
The photo is of one of two species of walking sharks found. See video of the sharks and of more of the species found in Indonesia.
Nanoparticles to aid brain imaging, team reports by Cathryn M. Delude
Some people are kept from owning wonderful cats due to allergies. Now, ‘Hypoallergenic cats’ go on sale. Some cats naturally do not have the normal allergen. By testing large numbers of cats and then breeding those that are free from the allergen cats that do not lead to allergic reactions are now available. Still not cheap, though.
Related: The Cat and a Black Bear – DNA Offers New Insight Concerning Cat Evolution – Cat History – Big Cats in America
Knotty problem puzzles protein researchers by Anne Trafton:
Of those that had knots, all were enzymes. Most had a simple three-crossing, or trefoil knot, a few had four crossings, and the most complicated, a five-crossing knot, was initially found in only one protein–ubiquitin hydrolase.
That complex knot may hold some protective value for ubiquitin hydrolase, whose function is to rescue other proteins from being destroyed–a dangerous job.
Photo: MIT researchers recently found that human ubiquitin hydrolase, shown here, has the most complicated knot ever observed in a protein. The simplified diagram, inset, shows the knot in the protein, which crosses itself five times. Larger image.
Vitamin D ‘slashes cancer risk’, BBC News:
They said further work was necessary to determine if consuming vitamin D in the diet, or through sun exposure might have even more of an effect than taking supplements.
Do you ever wonder that we don’t seem to get rid of cancer yet we have lots of stories about cures (or methods to reduce risk…). Read: Another Paper Questions Scientific Paper Accuracy which includes links to: “Why Medical Studies Are Often Wrong” and “Contradicted and Initially Stronger Effects in Highly Cited Clinical Research.” Just a reminder that you can’t rely on headlines (the truth is usually much less clear). Plus, of course, the difficulty of turning research findings into practical solutions means there are often long delays before widespread results can be enjoyed by society.
Engineering a ‘Trojan horse’ to sneak drugs into the brain by Terry Devitt:
Related: blog posts on medical breakthroughs – blog posts on heath care research
MIT’s molecular sieve advances protein research
Wheel of Life: Bacteria provide horsepower for tiny motor by Peter Weiss:
The machinery of each motor consists of two parts: a ring-shaped groove etched into a silicon surface, and a star-shaped, six-armed rotor fabricated from silicon dioxide that’s placed on top of the circular groove. Tabs beneath the rotor arms fit loosely into the groove.
To prepare the bacterial-propulsion units, the team used a strain of the fast-crawling bacterium Mycoplasma mobile that was genetically engineered to crawl only on a carpet of certain proteins, including one called fetuin. The researchers laid down fetuin within the circular groove and coated the rotor with a protein called streptavidin.
How Bacteria Nearly Destroyed All Life by Alan Bellows:
