Biomagic “pixie dust” regrows man’s lopped-off finger

Engadget:

“It’s the stuff of sci-fi and really crappy
awesome horror films, but now it looks like regrowing damaged skin and
limbs isn’t so far-fetched — in fact, it’s already happening. A
certain 69 year old Lee Spievak lost half an inch of finger to an
agressive model plane blade, and doctors had little hope for the
appendage. Lucky for Lee, his brother Alan works in the field of
regenerative medicine, and sent him some powder (which lee calls “pixie
dust”) to apply to the finger. Four weeks later Lee had grown back the
entire finger, as good as new. The pixie dust is actually modified
cells scraped from the lining of a pig’s bladder cleaned into a
general-purpose tissue generator — the cells basically tell the body
to grow instead of scar. Doctors have high hopes for the cells, for
everything from amputees to burn victims to cancer patients. We’re just
waiting until they can program these cells to grow that third arm we
always wanted.”

Scientists shoot thundercloud with laser, cloud goes nuts

DVICE:

“You may remember hearing about China’s plans to control the weather
during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by attacking shady clouds with
artillery and aircraft. Along similar lines, scientists in New Mexico
decided to mess with thunderclouds, but with fancy lasers.

The researchers harassed two passing storms from their evil fortress
(or observatory) with a high powered laser, fired in pulses. The laser
light managed to generate clusters of plasma filaments that, in turn, caused electrical discharges within the thunderheads. It wasn’t enough to get those coveted air-to-ground lighting strikes, though.

Why are they doing it? Being able to trigger a gen-u-wine lightning bolt
would allow scientists to study their effects in a controlled manner,
such as the effect of lightning on power lines and aircraft. It’d also
allow them to ruin someone’s day. Over and over.”

Optics Express, via EurekAlert!

Alligator Blood May Be Source of New Antibiotics

Slashdot: “Biochemists from McNeese State University have described how proteins
in gator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help
fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers and severe burns. This
new class of drug could also crack so-called ’superbugs’ that are
resistant to conventional medication. Previous studies have showed
alligators have an unusually strong immune system; unlike humans,
alligator immune systems can defend against microorganisms such as
fungi, viruses, and bacteria without having prior exposure to them.
Scientists believe that this is an evolutionary adaptation to promote
quick wound healing, as alligators are often injured during fierce
territorial battles.”

Best practices for water imbibing: “Just drink when you’re thirsty”

Boing Boing: “NPR talked to scientists who say that the benefits of drinking tons of
water are overrated, and that you don’t need to carry a water bottle
for a stroll around the park — “Just drink when you’re thirsty.”

Myth No. 1: Drink Eight Glasses Each Day

Scientists say there’s no clear health benefit to chugging or even
sipping water all day. So where does the standard advice of drinking
eight glasses each day come from? “Nobody really knows,” says Dr.
Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Myth No. 2: Drinking Lots of Water Helps Clear Out Toxins

The kidneys filter toxins from our bloodstreams. Then the toxins
clear through the urine. The question is, does drinking extra water
each day improve the function of the kidneys?

“No,” says Goldfarb. “In fact, drinking large amounts of water
surprisingly tends to reduce the kidney’s ability to function as a
filter. It’s a subtle decline, but definite.”

Link

(via Kottke)

Nanowire Power Shirt Generates Electricity While You Wear It

i09:

“Now you can power your cell phone just by wearing a special shirt made
of two tiny layers of nanowires that rub against each other as you
move. These super-conductive wires are “piezoelectric,” generating
energy through pressure and movement. The result is a shirt that
generates more electricity the more you move around. A few weeks ago, a
research team at Georgia Tech announced the first generation power
shirt (you can see the two layers of nano wires above), speculating
that it could someday power small electronic devices like iPods or
mobiles.”

FULL ARTICLE

China keeps promise to control weather during the Olympics

DVICE:

“China’s office of weather modification
is gearing up to keep the sky clear during the 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing. How will they do it? With planes, rockets and artillery.

The weather will be closely monitored with aerial surveillance and
radar, and the reconnaissance will all be processed by an IBM p575
supercomputer. The computer will be responsible for keeping track of
roughly 17,000 square miles around the stadium. Any invading clouds
will come under fire from a pair of aircraft and twenty artillery and
rocket positions, all using ammunition designed to spray silver iodide
and dry ice. This will cause the clouds to lose their lunch and
downpour somewhere that isn’t over the games. If the attack fails and a
cloud does make it through, it’ll then be bombarded with chemicals
that’ll shrink the droplet size so the cloud won’t be able to disgorge
itself until it passes the stadium.

Somewhere, the guy who thought it’d be brilliant to print up 2008
Beijing Olympic Games umbrellas is having a downpour of his own.”

Technology Review, via Sparking Tech

Pig bladder powder regrows human finger

Boing Boing: “A man cut off his finger tip while working on a model plane. His
brother, a medical research scientist, sent him a vial containing
powdered pig bladder and told him to sprinkle on the severed finger
tip. It grew back — “flesh, blood, vessels and nail” — in four weeks.

That powder is a substance made from pig bladders called
extracellular matrix. It is a mix of protein and connective tissue
surgeons often use to repair tendons and it holds some of the secrets
behind the emerging new science of regenerative medicine.

“It tells the body, start that process of tissue regrowth,” said Badylak.

Badlayk is one of the many scientists who now believe every
tissue in the body has cells which are capable of regeneration. All
scientists have to do is find enough of those cells and “direct” them
to grow.

“Somehow the matrix summons the cells and tell them what to
do,” Badylak explained. “It helps instruct them in terms of where they
need to go, how they need to differentiate - should I become a blood
vessel, a nerve, a muscle cell or whatever.”

LINK

UCLA researchers create self-healing, power-generating artificial muscle

Engadget:

“We’ve seen self-healing materials and artificial arms,
but a team of researchers hailing from UCLA have taken two fabulous
ideas and wed them together to create “an artificial muscle that heals
itself and generates electricity.” Put simply, the
contracting / expanding of the material can generate a small electric
current, which can be “captured and used to power another expansion or
stored in a battery.” The scientists have relied on carbon nanotubes as
electrodes rather than metal-based films that typically fail after
extended usage, and in an ideal world, the research could eventually
lead to (more) walking robots and highly advanced prosthetics.
Integrate an AC adapter in there and we’re sold.”

[Via CNET]

Scientists’ Success Or Failure Correlated With Beer

Slashdot: “mernil sends in an article from the NYTimes that casts a glance at a study done in the Czech Republic (natch) on what divides the successful scientists from the duffers.

“Ever since there have been scientists, there have been those who are wildly successful, publishing one well-received paper after another, and those who are not. And since nearly the same time, there have been scholars arguing over what makes the difference. What is it that turns one scientist into more of a Darwin and another into more of a dud? After years of argument over the roles of factors like genius, sex, and dumb luck, a new study shows that something entirely unexpected and considerably sudsier may be at play in determining the success or failure of scientists — beer.”

LINK

A Breakthrough That Lets You Grow Extra Fingers

i09:

“Humans, birds, and other creatures share a set of genes that lead
to the development of fingers and other digits (like paws or wings),
but the way those digits form has been a mystery. Now a group of
researchers in Wisconsin have discovered the secret of digit growth,
and perhaps the key to regrowing severed or stunted fingers. It’s even
possible this research would allow you to grow an extra finger or two.
This might make working with your hands easier, or lead to strange
biopunk fashions that involve fingers sprouting from your head.

The best part is that one of the genes involved in finger-creation is called Sonic Hedgehog:

The
UW-Madison team showed that growth begins in a portion of the
developing digit they have named the phalanx-forming region (PFR). They
illustrated that phalanges, structures that later become finger or toe
bones, arise not from cartilage cells but from mesenchymal cells. And
they discovered that a complex array of signals from a variety of genes
at different times combine to form each phalanx.”

READ MORE