MI weekly selection #295
A new shape inside your skin
The type of cells responsible for forming skin and the lining of an organism’s organs will morph into “scutoids” in order to accommodate those organs’ complex curvature.
A leap toward lifelike model of human heart
Scientists have bioengineered a 3D model of the human heart’s left ventricle, which could bring a lifelike model of the heart closer to fruition. The scientists spun biodegradable polyester and gelatin fibers on a bullet-shaped rotating collector and seeded the nanofiber scaffold with human heart cells, creating a beating model that could be used with pressure-volume loops and ultrasound for research.
3rd song used by male fruit flies to entice females discovered
Male fruit flies attract mates with three songs created by wing vibrations, not two as previously thought. In addition to the sine song mode and the previously known pulse mode, biologists found an additional pulse mode in the male Drosophila melanogaster‘s repertoire, helping them better understand behaviour.
Discovery of new sauropod in China raises questions about Pangaea split
The discovery of a new sauropod in northern China is shaking up ideas about when East Asia broke away from supercontinent Pangaea. Lingwulong shenqi dates to around 174 million years ago, about 15 million years earlier than other neosauropods, suggesting Pangaea had yet to split up.
Artificial mouse embryo created
An artificial mouse embryo has been created in a lab using three types of stem cells. The embryos organized themselves into a multilayered structure and went through a key stage of development known as gastrulation.