Running down rogue cells with the handcuffs.

Zapping cancer cells with magnetic nanodiscs.

Reminds me of this obscure JLA character named Pulse 8, who could drop attach these discs to people magnetically and then increase the weight exponentially.

The Six Million Watt Man (1.2 million miles of travel not included)

A research team unveils a device that convert leg energy into electrical energy. In principle its exactly how hybrid cars can use the deceleration of a car by braking as a harvest point for gathering up some extra electrical juice.

As the team reports tomorrow in Science, the braces produced 5 watts of power--enough to run 10 cell phones.

Now we're talking. I'd love to have a little bioelectric zappage on hand for my cell phone and even an LED flashlight. I suppose if I ever had a laptop it would be good motivation to get enough power to turn it on.

The prototype appears lightweight (1.6kgs). I wonder if a more industrious individual could strap on a battery and bank some of those watts, eh? It'd be pretty neat to be able to not have to plug my cell phone in every night and just have it charge as I tool about the lab. Of course, the more noble applications such as insulin pumps and prosthetic limbs, but man, I'd love to drop another chore off my daily decompression routine when I get home from work.

I guess they're still working on getting that USB port for the brain.

Micro Machines - Fast Talking Spokesman not included

In Korea a research team has built a really tiny robot. This robot, with six crab legs and being no thicker than a fingernail, is powered by rat cardiomyocytes, heart cells coated over its body. When the cells contract, the legs are pulled together, and the mini-cyborg inches forward, averaging about 100uM a second and close to 50 meters in a week. The robot is fabricated the same way we mold parts for things like cars or toys, just on a very small scale.

Check out the robot walker action here.

So what's the application, eh? Theoretically one could send these tiny robots into the smallest of blood vessels and gland ducts the way we send pipeline pigs into fuel lines for maintenance and information gathering missions. The tiny cyborgs could march in and collect valuable data and perhaps in later versions, effect repairs. That's a ways off, since the robot is going to need to be sturdy enough to force its way through flowing blood, but really, at this point its only a matter of engineering, not principle.

A bucket of coke and a better built house: Fat America

A fantastic new book out, the Fattening of America attempts to get a real headlock on the hard questions as to why and how Americans have become so alarmingly obese. This is the first book I've read that takes a moment to ask a question most books gloss right over: Is a big Fat America a bad thing?

In the book, Eric Finkelstein, a health economist argues that our economy, with its massive increase in productivity through technology, has predisposed us to gaining weight. Our jobs have become more and more sedentary and new medical technology has overall lowered the risk of carrying a few extra or a few dozen extra pounds. The power saw and mechanical lifts have preserved the backs and knees of our construction workforce, but it also allowed them to get chubbed and diabetic. At the same time, our accelerated productivity has made things cheaper and more accessible to the bulk (no pun intended) of the population.

This book also intersects with an intriguing study out this week about how living longer is more expensive than being fat. For many years people have laid into the argument that being obese, and as such being more vulnerable to a host of metabolic diseases is a drain on the health care system. Indeed it seems a healthy individual with a longer life span will have a greater financial impact on government run and private health care than any group of obese individuals could do so.

Clearly in the end there's a lot of non-salient factors such as one's happiness, the impact of obesity on relatives and discrimination and social perception of obesity that aren't well covered here, but this book is truly the first in its field to crack open a lot of stronghold notions that have since gone unchallenged.

Hopefully we can remember where we put those extra cells

New preliminary research out of UC-Irvine shows the discovery of a creator gene responsible for differentiating cells into brain tissue. This is a key element in creating a stem cell line of cells that could be used to regenerate brain tissue in patients with diseases like Alzheimer's.

These genes are highly selective, and likely only operate in a small window of time during early development. It would be interesting to see what a homolog gene does in other organisms, as it might provide insight as to how we got our big juicy think-globs. Mmmmm, thinky.

Taste the Brainbow

Stem cells may secret brain repair substance. What happens when you take a deficient rodent brain and inject it with stem cells? Brain rescue, at least in Alzheimer's-like mice models. This is a more elaborate variation on seminal work from last year.

Rather, the group speculates that the transplanted cells secreted protective neurotrophins, proteins that promote cell survival by keeping neurons from inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death).

What's interesting here is how malleable the system is. The brain is no different than the muscle or the skin in that it can respond to simple biochemical stimuli. Hook and levers, people, hooks and levers.

LaFerla's team genetically engineered mice to lose cells in their hippocampus, a region in the forebrain important for short-term memory formation. These mice were about twice as likely than unaltered rodents to fail a test of their ability to discern whether an object in a cage had been moved since their previous visit.

It would be interesting to see what kind of effect this model would have on the amygdala, the repository of emotional responses and almost always the first target of dementia diseases like Alzheimer's. However, I suppose it is difficult to tell if a mouse if more or less sad than the day before, and they aren't too forthright with that information.

The next step is to isolate this neurotrophin and throw it into a series of in vitro models, see what kinds of things pop up. A little combinatorial chemistry could begin to define what molecular appendage is the business end.

The chances of succumbing to a dementia like Alzheimer's has risen from about 1 in 6 to over 1 in 5 with our slowly creeping increase in life expectancy. With a tsunami of Baby Boomers turning 60, a sense of urgency is likely going to flock towards work of this nature very soon.

Better than "Operation"

Ever want to be a doctor? Take your shot at being a VR Orthopedic Surgeon.

Listen up, maggots.

In the realm of totally awesome science, I skipped across this story on my morning drive, and indeed, doctors are now using maggots as part of diabetes treatment. I am beside myself with joy.

While the actual mechanism as to how the beastly little critters work is somewhat nebulous, the basic conceit is thus: Maggots are applied, caged in a series of bandages on the dying tissue, typically on the foot in a diabetic case, and there they chew up or debride the necrotic tissue while leaving the living tissue room to grow, stimulus to do and with little to no incident of infection.

Back from the Infarct Grave

Protein patch shown to regenerate heart tissue.

With heart disease still reigning supreme as the top killer of Americans, this kind of research ought to pick up some steam if it shows to carry its therapeutic effects from the rodent to man.

Heart attacks basically cause veins of tissue to die in the heart, and the healing process produces less useful scar tissue. If this protein patch can address that kind of problem, it's a big win for the home team. If it can go on to reverse problems for adults and help children with congenital issues, whoa boy.

Trojans of Science

Condoms themselves appear to have quite a rich and awesome history.

But here at the Ripsaw we're always cutting towards the future, and even in the realm of prophylactics, there's new science to be found.

First off is this 'molecular condom' research coming out of Utah. It's a rather clever piece of biomedical engineering, using hydrogel polymers that can switch from liquid (for application) to a solid (for while being unused in the vagina) and back to a liquid (when in contact with semen). Hydrogel polymers can absorb an amazing amount of proteins and liposomes. We use similar material in our lab to stamp glass slides with lipid bilayers, which in execution isn't too far off from how an ejaculation might ink this stamp.

South of the border, they seem to have hit upon a similar idea using algae as a starting substrate.

Could be creepier, I suppose. The alternative is perhaps a later model of the Sperm Cube.

Stem Cells, Shmem Shmells.

Thought I'd toss a few thoughts up here regarding the latest news on stem cells, as there's been a bunch.

I'm sure most have seen the big splash in the Washington Post about amniotic stem cells. This is because adult stem cells are fairly limited in what they offer for research and embryonic stem cells have all sorts of political issues surrounding their fair use in science. Prior to that report came this one from South Korea where there is work on producing cloned embryonic stem cells. The moral outrage on this procedure has yet to be accurately gauged, but I suspect it won't pass the litmus test, the C-word tends to upset people for somewhat curious reasons.

Of course, there appear to be tremendous results just around the corner. Parkinson's is one of those home run targets that will likely get a lot of attention in the mainstream press. President Bush has only vetoed one bill in his time in office, and of course, that was stem cell funding from last year. Congress is going to take another run at this legislation, but don't expect any surprises, it will likely meet a similar fate.

What this all means is the science is making big strides both in the forward and lateral motion. Amniotic stem cells are a big deal, but it does not eliminate any need for embryonic stem cells for research. If anything, it intesifies the need for them in the short term. Science, as always, is a cumulative, endless task. Waiting excitedly for the end would be a lot like waiting for Godot.

MicroOncoWarfare

Check it: Scientists use nanoparticles to combat tumors.



This truly is akin to aiming a ray gun at a patients and torching the tumors with these mightily manufactured particles. There appear to be a number of folks in the patent race, so this therapeutic may come to life sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed! Particles too!

A finger in the butt for hiccup panacea!

There's not a whole lot to say, but I'm tickled (not in that way) that this made it into a scientific journal.

Digital rectal massage cures hiccups.

Who'd like to repeat this experiment for validity's sake?