Monthly Archives: March 2010

A Lesson From the Zebrafish: How to Mend a Broken Heart | 80beats

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sn-heartWhen a person has a heart attack, the heart repairs its damaged muscle by forming scar tissue. As a result, the heart never truly goes back to the way it was. But when a zebrafish has a heart injury, like having a large chunk of it chopped off, it grows a brand new piece to replace it.

Two independent reports published in the journal Nature show that within days of an injury to its heart, the zebrafish has the remarkable ability to regenerate most of the missing cardiac tissue using mature heart cells–not stem cells, as some researchers had suspected.

The findings help explain why human beings can’t regenerate a heart or missing limbs. The reports contradict a previous study (pdf) done by one of the research teams in 2006 that suggested that stem cells, the general all-purpose cells that develop into all the mature and functional cells of the body, were responsible for self-repair.

The finding suggest that doctors have been on the wrong track with recent stem cell-based therapies for heart attack patients. Many heart patients have received injections of stem cells, often ones taken from their own bone marrow. But the beneficial effects have generally been unremarkable [The New York Times].

In one study, a team led by Chris Jopling and Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte genetically engineered the fish’s heart muscle cells so that when they proliferated they would synthesize a fluorescent green protein [The New York Times].Then they chopped off part of the fish’s heart and watched to see if the fish would employ stem cells to regrow the heart or use mature heart muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes.

In just a few days, scientists found the zebrafish had regrown the missing piece of heart. On further observation, scientists found that all the cells in the new part of the heart glowed green, proving that existing heart muscle cells were the principal or only source of the new tissue [The New York Times]. Further experiments showed that the cardiomyocytes near the injury site seem to take a step backward in development, detaching from one another and losing their typical shape—presumably to make it possible for them to start dividing again as they replenish the lost tissue [ScienceNOW]. Experiments conducted by Kenneth Poss, the researcher behind the 2006 study, showed similar results. Both teams say the next step is to identify the cellular signals that trigger the regeneration process.

The scientists say that prior to heart failure, mammalian heart cells go into a state called hibernation, where the muscle cells stops contracting in an effort to save themselves. Hibernating cardiomyocytes are also seen in zebrafish, but unlike the mammal cells, the fish cells then take another step and begin proliferating. Scientists are trying to understand what gives the fish cells the ability to start multiplying, and hope to conduct further studies on mice to see whether mammalian cells can be induced to follow suit. “Maybe all they need is a bit of push in the right direction,” Jopling said [HealthDay News].

Related Content:
80beats:Injecting Special Protein Could Make Hearts Heal Themselves
80beats: Could Stem Cells Patch Up a Broken Heart?
80beats: Researchers Could Grow Replacement Tissue to Patch Broken Hearts
80beats: Harvesting Infant Hearts for Transplants Raises Ethical Questions
80beats: The Upside of Nuclear Testing: Traceable Radioactivity in Our Heart Cells

Image: Chris Jopling. The green-glowing heart cells are shown at 7, 14, and 30 days after injury.


Welcome Not Exactly Rocket Science And Gene Expression! | The Intersection

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I am delighted to welcome two of our favorite science bloggers on the planet to their new home with us at Discover Blogs! Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science and Razib Khan of Gene Expression begin settling in today and I cannot imagine two better additions to the family! In case you're not already familiar with these phenomenal blogs, Ed's an award-winning science writer who breaks down research papers into easy to understand posts like no one else. He only uses the primary literature and Not Exactly Rocket Science was just named Research Blog of the Year, Best Lay-Level Blog, and home of the Best Post of the Year in the Research Blogging Awards. In other words, Ed's writing is a must-read for anyone interested in science online. Razib's also a superstar blogger and covers genetics better than anyone! He not only reports on the latest research, but he synthesizes and analyzes the data from primary sources in novel ways--ways that often impress those scientists originally engaged in the studies. Razib offers new insights on topics from human migration to standards of beauty and I always learn something new when I visit his site. He also makes me laugh. On top of ...


What the future holds

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We have a budget proposal from the President that expands ISS utilization, invests in building a commercial LEO services-based launch capability, promotes a push to do R&D on exploration-enabling technologies, and, yes, cancels the Constellation program.

We have a Congress that, amongst the members who seem to care, largely doesn’t like this proposal, but is split amongst the various local concerns about what the best response to the budget is.  I have to admit that I share Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s sense of irony at a Democratic White House arguing for increased privatization against Congressional Republicans advocating the continuation of a monolithic government program.

The space community itself is just as divided.  You can see it on the space blogs and in the press, where we argue amongst ourselves about extending Shuttle, building a more direct derivative of it, saving Constellation (or not), supporting commercial endeavors, and just about every iteration in between.

This goes beyond just a technical debate, though.  People are taking this personally.  I experienced it first-hand when I found myself leaving a young professionals group that I had eagerly helped launch last fall, largely because I felt that dissenting views were no longer welcomed or respected and messaging decisions were being made on the basis of their marketability, not their content.

Speaking as someone who grew up watching the Shuttle, once worked on Constellation, and who now works on the Space Station Program, I can see where most people are coming from.  Putting aside the typical politics that seem to be dominating the debate on Capitol Hill for a moment, I understand why people would feel trepidation at the vanguard of human space flight for the past 30 years coming to an end and discomfort at the uncertainty of what the future holds.  As an engineer myself, I know my first instinct is to prefer the comfort of being pointed in a certain direction and told to go forth.

Personally, though, I do think NASA needs to focus on core strengths – exploration beyond LEO, scientific discovery, and technological innovation.  The Space Act is clear that NASA is not to compete with private industry where such capability exists.  The Vision for Space Exploration and the 2004 Aldridge Commission both said that NASA should not replicate existing LEO launch capabilities.  It’s long past time we stop thinking everything will be alright if we can just pick up where Apollo left off.  The world has changed since then and so must we.

When I search inside myself, I find that my strongest loyalty is to the enterprise of space exploration itself, not necessarily any particular program.  As long as we are moving forward and I am making a meaningful contribution, I’ll be happy.  If that means I have to change my own personal notion of what the future holds, so be it.

So long as we support an endeavor that is subject to the vagaries of the political winds, we will not have any hard-and-fast guarantees. The reality of the matter is that this could all change again when the next President comes along. Our best insurance against having change imposed on us against our will is to pursue missions with clear, unambiguous benefit to the nation.  I think we can take a lesson in this from another part of the government.

Few question the value the military, as an institution, provides our country. No one lamented the “end of the Army,” though, when the immense, $340-billion Future Combat Systems program was canceled.  FCS, despite completing its Systems of Systems Functional Review, was over budget and failing to meet its original requirements.

Before its cancellation, critical funding elements were already strapped and advanced technology development had been deferred.  The Pentagon was recommending further deferral as early as 2005 because of budget strains elsewhere and expected funding declines.  Sound familiar?

The Army is now working to figure out how to manage their programs better, what from FCS is really of value, and how to roll that forward into building its next generation of ground combat vehicles.  Studies of program management have repeatedly shown that there is a declining trend in successful completion with increasing size, budget, and complexity.  Instead of one monolithic program, the Army is now separating their modernization effort into role-specific programs.

We must not make the mistake of conflating the vision with the implementation, nor can we let ourselves fall victim to the sunk costs fallacy.  We need to be honest with ourselves and our stakeholders – the American public – about where the space program is now, where it is going if we stay on the present path, and where we really want to take it.

I think the Vision for Space Exploration is still a good one and that the findings of both the Aldridge and Augustine reports validate it.  Instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we should have a conversation about how to best realize that Vision within the political and fiscal realities we must face.

The traditional disdain of engineers and scientists for dealing with politics has only hurt us over the past few decades.  We must bridge that gap if we expect policymakers to hear us, but we must also be careful to not lose our objectivity in the process of advocacy.  Otherwise, we will fall into the same trap that has recently discredited climate science in the public eye.

I believe with all of my heart that our civilization’s future is in space.  Our continued evolution and survival depends on our ability to explore the solar system, peel back its mysteries through scientific inquiry, and utilize its resources for the benefit of both our country and the rest of the world.  As far as I am concerned, that is our mission. Let’s not lose sight of it.

Mars Rover Opportunity is Thinking for Itself

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From Discovery News - Top Stories:

Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity have surpassed their designed mission lifespan by an astonishing six years, but don't let that fool you into thinking their mental capacity is suffering. Far from it. With help from the ME

Robots Do the Work of Multiple Solar Labs

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From Discovery News - Top Stories:

The National Renewable Energy Lab, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, has some new deputies in its push to develop cheaper, more efficient solar cells. Meet the NREL bots. In the shiny Process Development and Integration Laborato

Stealing Electricity from Algae

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From Discovery News - Top Stories:

Why spend the time and expense necessary to harvest energy when you can simply steal it? For the first time, scientists from California and Korea have successfully stolen an electric current from algae. The research could eventually create a ne

China Steams Ahead on Clean Energy

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From BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition:

China overtook the US during 2009 to become the leading investor in renewable energy technologies, according to a new analysis. Researchers with the Pew Charitable Trusts calculate that China invested $34.6bn (£23.2bn) in clean

Birds Playing Electric Guitars

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From mental_floss Blog:

Today's bizarre-but-true video: zebra finches playing electric guitars. They're not all that good at it, but they rock roughly as hard as an untrained human would. From the YouTube description: French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot … creates a

Over the Mojave Desert, Suborbital Vehicles Take Flight

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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and Masten Space Systems’ Xombie vehicle both completed milestone test flights recently over the Mojave Desert, another step on the path towards commercial suborbital flights to space.

On March 20, Masten Space Systems’ Xombie vehicle, which successfully competed in NASA’s Lunar Lander Challenge last year, reached its highest altitude yet, 1046 feet, during a test launch. The recent flight marks another milestone towards Masten’s stated goal of providing “affordable access to space for a variety of scientific payloads” including “microgravity, space, and earth science experiments.”

On March 22, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, built by Scaled Composites, successfully completed its first “captive carry” atmospheric test flight at Mojave Spaceport attached to the WhiteKnightTwo mother aircraft, remaining aloft for 3 hours. “This is a momentous day for the Scaled and Virgin Teams,” said Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites. “The captive carry flight signifies the start of what we believe will be extremely exciting and successful spaceship flight test program.”

Shell Eco-Marathon: Race Day Recap | Discoblog

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Car19Race day one is almost done here in Houston, and the college and high school engineers are starting to surmount the technical difficulties and put up extraordinary numbers with their cars.

When we last left Durand High School, the team’s ethanol-powered car had swiped another vehicle around turn one and wrecked. But the car got back on the road, and the team recorded two full runs, including one of 345 miles per gallon. Three of the cars in the fuel cell category scored more than the equivalent of 1,000 MPG. And the girls from Granite Falls High School got as high as 182 MPG in the pink-and-green diesel “Iron Maiden.”

Tomorrow: How you drive these crazy things, how you build a car when your college forbids welding, and the final tallies from Shell Eco-marathon Americas.


Best Buy Selling iPads on Launch Day [BestBuy]

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We-hell-hell, what have we here? It seems as though those placeholder SKUs that popped up in Best Buy's database a few weeks ago were for iPads after all. Both TUAW and Engadget have some shots of Best Buy's confidential "Apple iPad Launch Playbook"—their term, not ours—and the documents suggest that some 675 Best Buy locations will have the iPad available in limited quantities on April 3. More »


Tea Party photo of the Day: Patriots in the Desert

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Report via Tim Daniels, LR contributor and Left Coast Rebel

Reports of over 30,000 strong in Searchlight, NV. Earlier estimates of the expected crowd, ranged from 5,000 to possibly 10,000.

Other reports that 35 Harry Reid supporters lined the highway leading to the Rally and egged the Tea Party Express bus.

Supporters of Senator Harry Reid have just thrown eggs at the Tea Party Express bus caravan -striking at least one of the three buses (the red Tea Party Express bus) with multiple eggs.

Sarah Palin gave a 20 minute address with her now standard line:

"The government governs best, governs least."

Other speakers included Joe the Plumber, Libertarian Republican for US Senate in California Chuck DeVore, and Libertarian 2008 VP candidate and Nevadan Wayne Root.

Shell Eco-Marathon: Just Get on the Board | Discoblog

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3inarowAs we saw this morning, just taking a vehicle designed strictly with mileage in mind and getting it around a track 10 times in no easy task. Grand Rapids High School, who we covered this morning, saw their car “The World’s Fastest Indian” bottom out over a bump near the final turn and grind to a halt. As of this moment the team had gone through an emergency session in the garage—which is actually a huge room in the convention center littered with tools and frantic young engineers—and headed out to try it again.

The key, says coach Michael Werner of Granite Falls High School in Washington state, is to just get on the board. The two-seater diesel his boys’ team built managed to chauffeur Shell’s Marvin Odum on a tour of the track, but thereafter suffered some transmission problems. The girls’ team had their aptly-named “Iron Maiden” roadster on the way to a successful run this morning when it threw a chain. “I think we’re on Plan E, F, or maybe G,” he says.


ToolsBut fortune turned for Granite Falls, and this afternoon the girls finished all 10 laps around the downtown Houston track, erupting in a chorus of cheers as the car pulled in to have its fuel milage measured by Shell volunteers. Werner says he told them to forget the mileage and just get the car over the line. Once you get a number on the board, he says, it’s there, whether it’s 50, 100, or 200 mpg.

Now that Granite Falls has a score, the girls plan to drive with a little more strategy, tweaking their fuel use to go for a big number. Many of the other drivers that have already completed a successful lap or two have begun to figure out the course, giving the engine a burn at the start of the home stretch and coasting the rest of the way to save gas, and staying tight through the backside turns.

Even if the team misses its mileage goals, Werner says they’ll be strong in the other competitions, like ergonomics or safety. “They’re as comfortable as you can be in a sardine can,” he says of the drivers. Now he just needs to get the boys team on the board, which may take a little more garage time, and some motivation. “We’ll be out here, with the successful ones,” he teased one of the boys headed inside for continued repairs.


Are We Near or Past Climate Tipping Points?

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The Big Question: Is Earth Past the Tipping Point?

“For 10,000 years, our world seemed endless. The sky was the limit. But today’s world looks much smaller. We’ve cleared, consumed and polluted our way across the globe. The planet is shrinking. Have we pushed Earth past the tipping point? That’s a critical issue explored in this second Big Question video, from the University of MN, which draws on research from “Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humanity,” published this past fall in the journal Nature.

This video coincides with “Boundaries for a Healthy Planet,” IonE Director Jonathan Foley’s cover story in Scientific American magazine’s April 2010 issue.

This video is from the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment. The Wonk Room at Think Progress writes:

Last September, a team of 28 scientists identified “10 separate biophysical systems crucial to humanity’s flourishing” and then determined “safe operating boundaries” for those systems within which humanity must remain if we wish to maintain the conditions in which it developed civilization. Unfortunately, anthropogenic interference with the climate system, the nitrogen cycle, and biodiversity is already past safe thresholds, with ocean acidification, ozone depletion, and other resource consumption at the door.

This is a Wonk Room repost.

Planetary Boundaries

In a groundbreaking Nature article, 28 scientists including the IonE’s Jon Foley introduce a set of planetary boundaries.