The Takyon Products Blog.

When rodents get infected by Toxoplasma gondii, the single-celled brain parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, they become hyperactive risk-takers. In findings published this week in mBio, researchers show for the first time that it's possible to reverse that behavioral change. Surprisingly, the study also showed that the restoration of normal behavior resulted from reducing inflammation—and not from reducing the amount of parasites in the brain.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

Pregnancy shifts the daily schedule forward

Add this to the list of what to expect: Getting up earlier, at least in the first trimester.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

A father's death at 37 reveals a hidden history of cholesterol

Carl Korfmacher was 9 years old when his father, Ron, returned from the Mayo Clinic for a checkup in the early 1970s.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

What can be done to prevent another CRISPR crisis?

The public announcement last fall from China regarding gene editing on human embryos, conducted without the benefit of scientific review or ethical debate, was met with worldwide disdain. It also has raised global concerns that more rigorous standards must be established to guide further research efforts in germline gene therapy, according to a new article publishing on April 30 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by medical ethicist Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D., founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

A first in medical robotics: Autonomous navigation inside the body

Bioengineers at Boston Children's Hospital report the first demonstration of a robot able to navigate autonomously inside the body. In an animal model of cardiac valve repair, the team programmed a robotic catheter to find its way along the walls of a beating, blood-filled heart to a leaky valve—without a surgeon's guidance. They report their work today in Science Robotics.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

Record solar hydrogen production with concentrated sunlight

Hydrogen will play a key role in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. It can be sustainably produced by using solar energy to split water molecules. The resulting clean energy can be stored, used to fuel cars or converted into electricity on demand. But making it reliably on a large scale and at an affordable cost is a challenge for researchers. Efficient solar hydrogen production requires rare and expensive materials—for both the solar cells and the catalyst—in order to collect energy and then convert it.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest

Little shopping cart speedster in Aisle 7 inspires Ford braking solution

For a child's mom, supermarkets are where you fulfill your list of candles, berries, bologna and soap. For the child, supermarkets, like parks, are where you can run and, best of all, drive a grown-up trolley and command the wheels.

* This article was originally published here

Email This BlogThis!Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest