Science News 2014

2014 has been a very important and progressive year for us Humans. We wrote history, even a couple of times. I looked up for some of the interesting events that happened on http://www.sciencedaily.com/ and I'm going to summarize them now.

Life on Mars?

Now this story is about scientists, having found an ancient lake and analyzing it's patterns. They found signs that an microbial life could have existed once on Mars.

source

These microbial nets are big groups of microscopic organisms (for.ex: bacteria) that usually only develop in semi- aquatic or aquatic environment. So water must have existed on Mars.
The female scientist having this theory and having discovered all this says : "I spent several weeks investigating certain images centimeter by centimeter, drawing sketches, and comparing them to data from terrestrial structures."
In Australia, they found an old microbial structure that is about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years old. Just one billion years younger than earth and they analyzed and compared it to Mars structure. 3.5 billion years ago, Mars was much more similar to Earth and those structures found on it, probably have the same age as those from Earth.
But we won't know the truth now, but if this theory is really true, this is an extraordinary discovery.

German Orangutan teaches itself how to talk like Humans

A wild-born Orangutan at a German Zoo imitated the sound of Humans by making vocalizations to grab her zoo-keepers attention, that actually sounded similar to us, Humans.

This may help us understand the origins of Human speech and also how we sound to animals.

The Orangutan makes calls by opening her lips very quickly, while making consonant and other sounds - just like we do. 

Scientists also found out Orangutans can make whistles, tongue clicks and clap with their hands.

All this sounds like one of the earliest human languages (bush- language in Africa).

This is Tilda Source

Smartphone on your Skin

A french company developed the Cicret Bracelet - a device that you wear as a bracelet.

It is like a Smartphone or Google Glasses, except that it is without a screen - because your skin becomes the screen!

How does this work? 

The Bracelet is equipped with a projector and special censors. When you shake your arm, it tells the censor what to do. The Bracelet is very useful in every- day-situations like taking a bath and the chance that you break your phone is little.

This device would take technology to a higher level.

Now for that the company is able to release this thing, they still need a huge amount of money and they even demand you to give them money.

If this device is going to be released, it will cost around 400 Euros and look way less creepy than Google Glasses...

The Last Place on Earth....without life. Final draft

Richard Koys 9A
Mr. Youell Science
1/19/2015

Last year many things have happened. Like the Ebola that has spread in Africa and also in the US, The MH 370 plane crash and also the woman Malala Yousafzai that was a female educationer and she also survived a shot in the head and won an award for it. And this year there was a terrorist attack in Paris where a man called Charlie Hebdo died for drawing Muhammad in one of his comics.
But what I found this other day was an interesting article that may not be that popular as the other ones but it is pretty good and can grab someones attention. It is called "The Last Place on Earth....without life"
In Northern Chile there is this place called the Atacama desert (see pic 1 for a look). It looks like a place where nothing would survive. It is one of the most driest places in the world because it hasn't rained there for about 50 years! There is not a soul at that place, but there are some mysterious organisms and something else much more intriguing.
   Pic 1: 
There are these small microorganisms that hide inside or at the edges of rocks called endoliths. There are these organisms called hyperthermophile methanogens (see pic 2 for an example of one). They are organisms that can survive very high body temperatures like about 150 C (302 F). These guys are found deep in the sea near hydro thermal vents. What are those? Hydro thermal vents are also called the underground volcanoes.
Pic 2:
This is an example of one of those hyperthermophile methanogens. This is the deep sea worm that is found at the edge of a "black smoke" vent on the bottom of the floor in the Atlantic ocean. 
Now that you have seen these guys, its time to show you the organisms that can survive the low body temperatures. There is a bacteria that is called Psychrobacter (see pic 3 for an example) and it can survive gladly up to -10 C (14 F). The reason of why these guys can survive in the cold is because they have specially adapted membranes and protein structures, and anti-freeze molecules within their cells.
Pic 3: 
Here as you can see is an example of a Psychrobacter. Do you see why it is blue? If you have been paying attention in the first paragraph, I said that they have anti-freeze molecules. That's what makes them blue.
Now for something even more interesting. In the center of our planet, the temperature is about 6000 C or 10,800 F, anyone or anything that would get really close would then get set on fire or die immediately. One day, scientist have found something fascinating, they discovered a microorganism called Desulforudis audaxviator ( really hard name to remember isn't it? Also see pic 4 for a look) was discovered nearly two miles below the earths surface Near the gold mine in south Africa. This microorganism can survive more heat those hyperthermophile methanogens!
Pic 4:

This was the best example that I could find. It is the only bacterium found in water samples and it can also survive about millions of years on chemical food. 

Finally, I have one more thing to tell you, a strange discovery that will make you confused. In the Atacama desert there is this pond called the "Don Juan Pond" It is the most and I mean THE most saltiest pond in the world. While the dead sea has about 33% of saltiness, the Don Juan pond has about 40%! There is also something strange about this pond. Researchers have been studying and researching this mysterious pond because every single time when the pond appears, it also disappears quickly! Scientists are trying to figure out if it is because of the rain that is doing this or if the pond is just randomly appearing. For now, it remains as a mystery.
So there you have it! The Atacama desert is a huge place without a soul and also full of mysteries, and lets not forget those interesting organisms. Also I forgot one more thing to tell you, the organisms are still capable of adapting even though they live in weird places. One person quoted this: “Give them enough time and they will find a way,”-Di Ruggiero. So what about you? Would you dare to step into the desert to see if there is really nothing alive there?

 “Towards Atacama, near the deserted coast, you see a land without men, where there is not a bird, not a beast, nor a tree, nor any vegetation.”-  Alonso de Ercilla 1569

2014 Science News Review

Ivan Cukanic

Science 9E

Mr. Patrick Youell

Jan. 18th 2015

2014 Science News Review

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Fig. 1 - Nanomotors in a human cell moving independently
 from one another

     Tiny motors have been inserted into human cells to stimulate a reaction. News.psu.edu says that these nanomotors are do not need fuel, they are powered by ultrasound, unlike its predecessors that used toxic fuel and could not move in biological fluid, so it is safe for the cell. Scientists at Penn State University designed it so that at low ultrasonic power, the nanomotor moves slowly, while it moves faster with a higher ultrasonic power, meaning its speed increases with the power of the ultrasonic waves. The nanomotors have the ability to move completely independently (as seen in fig. 1), but can also be directed. The nanomotor randomly moves around the cell and bumps into the membrane and organelles, so scientists can record how it responds. Scientist have seen some unusual mechanical responses of the cell when these nanomotors started bumping into organelles. These nanomotors can be used to homogenize the cell's cytoplasm or puncture the cell walls. They could have many applications in the near future, like diagnosis, or non invasive medicine delivery or most importantly cancer treatment within the affected cell.

     Cancer is a common disease in humans, but other animals have it too. For example, a genome of dog genital cancer has been around for 11 000 years and is still spreading. An article from the Sanger Institute states that it is characterized by distorted genital tumors (look at fig. 2) that can be transmitted by physical contact. Affected cells tend to fall off and stick to the dog's partner when mating. This dog cancer and a Tasmanian devil cancer are the only known cancers that are transmissible. Huma"This genome of the transmissible dog cancer will help us to understand the process that allow cancers to become transmissible. Although transmissible cancers are very rare, we should be prepared in case such a disease emerged in humans or other animals. Furthermore, studying the evolution of this ancient cancer can help us to understand factors driving cancer evolution more generally." , concludes Professor Sir Mike Stratton, senior author and director of the Sanger institute.

Fig.2 - Dog with genital cancer and distorted genital tumors

n cancers usually have between 1000 to 5000 mutations, while this dog cancer has about 2 000 000 mutations. Using only one known mutation that is known to accumulate at a steady rate, scientists have determined that the cancer genome is about a 11 000 years old. They have reconstructed the original carrier of the disease found that it looked somewhat like a Husky or Alaskan Malamute. However, despite its old age, the cancer has spread throughout the world only in the last 500 years. The team of scientists that were involved in this research (which include scientist from Cambridge University and the Sanger Institute) think that it may have started spreading at the beginning of the age of exploration, because sailors brought dogs on board, some of them cancerous, so when they encountered other dogs in different parts of the world, the cancer spread.

Fig. 3 -  Pic. A is a normal human lung, while pic. B is a less
 dense lung from a lab

     Talking about cancer, in a few years, we will be able to replace affected organs by transplanting them not from a living being, but from a laboratory. IFL Science informs us that an artificially grown lung made from actual cells has been created. The cells were taken from the damaged lungs of two children who had died. The cells were then placed on a scaffold made of elastin and collagen, two types of connective tissue found in our body, that were left after most of the material has been stripped. Then the cells were left to multiply and grow tissue, which was a very slow process, before one of the students brought a customized aquarium that accelerated the process. The end product were lungs that very less dense and softer than normal human lungs, which can clearly be seen in Fig. 3. Even though the lungs respond when air is pumped in, it is not yet ready for transplantation. "My students will be doing the work when I'm old and retired and can't hold the pipette anymore", says Joan Nichols, the team leader, predicting how long the work will take. However, other organs will probably be easier to grow, for the lung is maybe the most complex organ when it comes to the diversity of cell types. Artificially grown organs will first be tested on animals and then on humans.

Fig. 4 - Plastic pumping gel into the hole and healing itself

     An artificially grown lung will repair a body, but what will repair broken plastic? A new kind of plastic has been made that heals itself (look at Fig. 4), developed by Santa Cruz, a scientist from the University of Illinois and her colleagues. Nature.com tells us that combining a few chemicals in a plastic will make them change state when not connected to other parts. Till 2014, this method could only heal holes that are a only a few millimeters in diameter, but now the system has been improved. Small channels have been created in regular plastic by placing fibres in drying plastic and then taking them out when the plastic is dry. A gel is then pumped into the channels which flow out of the hole that has been made, mix and harden. This system was inspired by the human vascular system and can now heal holes up to two centimeters in diameter. This new self healing plastic could potentially be used in a wide variety of areas including medicine, architecture and aerospace engineering.

These three articles have a common topic of regeneration. A cell can regenerate itself when triggered by a nanomotor, a cancer genome mutated continuously and regenerated through 11 000 years, lung cells reproduced and regenerated the lung and plastic that regenerates holes. These are all potentially very influential discoveries that can have a wide application in the near future. Nanomotors can be used to heal cancer cells, or any kind of sick cells or deliver drugs to certain cells. In an unlikely case of cancer that is transmitted by contact appearing in humans, we could use the knowledge we gained researching the dog cancer genome to prevent spreading cancer. Lungs can be grown in a laboratory and transplanted to humans, eliminating the need for a donor. Regenerating plastic can be used in buildings cars, machines, etc. All in all, this is the technology of the future.