VirtualBody

"Scientists at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have developed a model that makes predictions from which differentiated cells - for instance skin cells - can be very efficiently changed into completely different cell types - such as nerve cells, for example. This can be done entirely without stem cells. These computer-based instructions for reprogramming cells are of huge significance for regenerative medicine"

""Mucus is everywhere," says microbiologist Jeremy Barr. Almost every animal uses it to make a barrier that protects tissues that are exposed to the environment, such as the gut or lungs. Now, Barr and a team of researchers have discovered that mucus is also the key to an ancient partnership between animals and viruses."

" Brain cells talk to each other in a variety of tones. Sometimes they speak loudly but other times struggle to be heard. For many years scientists have asked why and how brain cells change tones so frequently. Today National Institutes of Health researchers showed that brief bursts of chemical energy coming from rapidly moving power plants, called mitochondria, may tune brain cell communication."

"At EPFL's Blue Brain facilities, computer models of individual neurons are being assembled into neural circuits that produce electrical signals akin to brain waves. The results, published in the journal Neuron, are helping solve the mystery of how and why these signals arise in the brain."

"The Utrecht Biomolecular Interactions software portal provides access to software tools developed in the Computational Structural Biology group / NMR Research Group of Utrecht University with a main focus on the characterization of biomolecular interactions. Please note that this site is in active development."

"lack of sleep can have some not so great effects on our bodies. It decreases things like cognitive performance, increases anxiety, and…it's not good for our waistlines. Sleep loss is associated with higher caloric intake, when you can't sleep you eat. But does this increased caloric intake translate to weight gain?"

Here's a good reason to pay attention in math class. Nature Communications has published a paper from Ottawa researchers today, outlining how advanced mathematical modelling can be used in the fight against cancer. The technique predicts how different treatments and genetic modifications might allow cancer-killing, oncolytic viruses to overcome the natural defences that cancer cells use to stave off viral infection.

 Circadian rhythms can boost the body's ability to fight intestinal bacterial infections, UC Irvine researchers have found.

Modeling can support critical decisions across the therapeutic lifecycle, sustaining target progression through to approval.

"The brain appears to be wired more like the checkerboard streets of New York City than the curvy lanes of Columbia, Md., suggests a new brain imaging study. The most detailed images, to date, reveal a pervasive 3D grid structure with no diagonals, say scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health."

"Navigate the brain in a way that was never before possible; fly through major brain pathways, compare essential circuits, zoom into a region to explore the cells that comprise it, and the functions that depend on it. The Human Connectome Project aims to provide an unparalleled compilation of neural data, an interface to graphically navigate this data and the opportunity to achieve never before realized conclusions about the living human brain."

Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say. Electrical engineer Todd Coleman at the University of California at San Diego is devising noninvasive means of controlling machines via the mind, techniques virtually everyone might be able to use

Here now, for distributing far and wide, is a list of common misconceptions surrounding "Folk Neuroscience" - a term clinical and neuropsychologist Vaughan Bell uses to describe the imprecise, "sometimes wildly inaccurate," concepts that are commonly used to explain the brai

In a stunning first for neuroscience, researchers have created an electronic link between the brains of two rats, and demonstrated that signals from the mind of one can help the second solve basic puzzles in real time - even when those animals are separated by thousands of miles.

'Google Map' of human metabolism could pave way for new medical treatments

Short-term memory is formed and lost far too quickly for it to be explained by any (known) kind of synaptic plasticity. So how does it work? British mathematicians Samuel Johnson and colleagues say they have the answer: Robust Short-Term Memory without Synaptic Learning.

The power of the mind and its ability to affect physical change may shock you! Find out how simply imagining can make it so. Read more at http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2013/01/20/the-scientific-power-of-thought-video/#S2wUp5Iqd66EI0sg.99 

When the company behind the gesture technology in the Kinect came to CES a year ago to show how its 3D sensors can enable people to control their TVs with simple gestures, its execs talked about how their sensors eventually would be embedded in mobile devices, opening up a range of possible applications. PrimeSense's new 3D sensor, called Capri, is 10 times smaller than its current sensor and, according to the company, the smallest in the world. The design, says PrimeSense, allows for improved capabilities that it says will soon find its way into PCs, tablets, laptops, phones, various robots, and much more.

"Despite the best of intentions, many people may feel that there are simply too many hurdles to overcome before they find themselves exercising at a gym. You need a gym membership (often steep), you need appropriate clothing and shoes, you need to get yourself across town, you need to plan your workout for the day, and so on. What's important to remember is that (as far as your health is concerned) physical activity is good for you regardless of where it is done and how fashionable your LuLu Lemon gear might be."

""We've learned that the same pathway that is activated strongly and prematurely in kids with progeria is also happening in you and me. That toxic protein they make from the beginning is also in our cells as we approach senescence. So cell senescence is not just a running down of the system - it's an active process. A signal turns on this protein." And that aging signal, Dr. Collins added, is connected to the shortening of the chromosome tips that serves as a cellular clock. So the glimpse into aging the kids with progeria provide may have illuminated a new risk factor that can damage blood vessels even in a star athlete who eats only broccoli."