First molecular-machine combination revealed

University of Tokyo researchers have constructed the first molecular machine, comprising a pair of double-bonded nitrogen atoms strung between two plier “handles” that open or close by exposure to visible or ultraviolet light. A twisting motion prompted by the light exposure causes attached pedals to flap. The result is the first example of one molecular machine controllably driving the action of another, say the researchers.

Site – http://www.newscientist.com

Biowar For Dummies

How hard is it to build your own weapon of mass destruction? Roger Brent, a geneticist who runs a California biotech firm, is one of a growing numberof researchers who believe that a bioterrorist wouldn’t need a team of virologists and state funding. He says advances in DNA-hacking technology have reached the point where an evil lab assistant with the right resources could do the job.

Site – http://paulboutin.weblogger.com

Computer Made From DNA And Enzymes

Israeli scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA. A year ago, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, unveiled a programmable molecular computing machine composed of enzymes and DNA molecules instead of silicon microchips. Now the team has gone one step further. In the new device, the single DNA molecule that provides the computer with the input data also provides all the necessary fuel.   The design is considered a giant step in DNA computing. The Guinness World Records last week recognized the computer as “the smallest biological computing device” ever constructed. DNA computing is in its infancy, and its implications are only beginning to be explored. But it could transform the future of computers, especially in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Site – http://news.nationalgeographic.com

Enzyme Computer Could Live Inside You

A molecular computer that uses enzymes to perform calculations has been built by researchers in Israel.  Itamar Willner, who constructed the molecular calculator with colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, believes enzyme-powered computers could eventually be implanted into the human body and used to, for example, tailor the release of drugs to a specific person’s metabolism.

Site – http://www.newscientist.com

Anti-aging Drugs On Horizon

Drugs that prevent aging are on the distant horizon, and with them could come dramatic social changes, such as much later ages for everything from puberty to retirement, and massive inequality in life expectancy between those who can afford the life-lengthening compounds, and those who can’t. These changes, in turn, would have a significant impact on the global economy.

Site – http://redherring.com

Engineering Nerve Jumper Cables For Spinal Cord Repair

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have created a new way to engineer nerve structures, or constructs, in culture. This proof-of-principle research has implications for eventually becoming a new method to repair spinal cord injury in humans.  Previously, they showed that they could grow axons by placing neurons from rat dorsal root ganglia on nutrient-filled plastic plates. Axons sprouted from the neurons on each plate and connected with neurons on the other plate. The plates were then slowly pulled apart over a series of days, aided by a precise computer-controlled motor system.

Site – http://www.eurekalert.org

Web Program Simplifies Artificial Gene Design

A web-based program that simplifies many tricky steps involved in designing artificial DNA has been released by US microbiologists.  The software suite, called GeneDesign, should make it easier for researchers to modify and study DNA. The cost of gene synthesis is rapidly falling with dozens of companies around the world now offering to create genes to order from the chemical components of DNA.  GeneDesign was created by researchers led by Jef Boeke at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, US. It simplifies and automates several key steps of DNA design.

Site – http://www.newscientist.com

Instant Replay May Help To Mould Memories

Idlers, loafers and layabouts, listen up. A new study suggests that the times when we sit around twiddling our thumbs could in fact be vital for learning.  The idea stems from experiments in which neuroscientists eavesdropped on the brains of rats as they explored their environments. They found that the rats’ brains ‘replay’ their experiences in reverse when the animals pause briefly to rest.

Site – http://www.nature.com

Skip Your Veggies? Not So Fast

A recently published study of 48,835 women, questioning low-fat diets, had serious design defects, experts say.  Subjects with “healthier” diets cut calories from fat by only 8.2 percent compared with the normal group and ate only 1.1 additional servings of fruits and vegetables a day — too small a difference to expect health benefits.  And hy focusing only on total fat intake, the study misleadingly failed to distinquish the effects of the different types of fat: unhealthy saturated and trans fats vs. healthy monounsaturated fats.

Site – http://www.businessweek.com

The Prion Anomaly

These tiny, eccentric proteins are challenging a central paradigm in molecular biology: that genes are the sole unit of inheritance. Science has been progressing at a fantastic speed this decade. For old timers such as myself, the replacement of paradigms in biology has been intellectually bearable, but only just so. I was born and educated in the era before 1950, when life was the domain of proteins, and I had to adapt myself to a new way of looking at life after the discovery of the double helix and the nature of the genetic code.

Site – http://www.seedmagazine.com

US ‘Unaware’ Of Emerging Bioterror Threats

The life sciences are developing so quickly that a watch list of dangerous pathogens and toxins is useless in fighting the threat of bioterrorism, says a new report from the US National Academy of Sciences.  The report, on “next generation” bioterrorism, was requested by the US government. It concludes that intelligence agencies are too focused on specific lists of bacteria and viruses, and are not aware of emerging threats.

Site – http://www.newscientist.com

Global Effort Needed To Combat Misuse Of Biomedical Advances

Vigilance among the world’s scientists, an expanded view of bioterrorism threats, and a stronger public health infrastructure are needed to reduce the growing risk that new advances in the life sciences and related technologies will be used to create novel biological weapons or misused by careless individuals, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

Site – http://www.nationalacademies.org