Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating autoimmune condition whereby neurons lose their myelin sheath leading to impaired neural transmission, neural degeneration and motor symptoms. Multiple factors have been considered to influence its development, like vitamin D, but now, a couple of studies have shown that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is linked to multiple sclerosis. You […]
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are layered compounds which can be thinned down to the single-layer limit. While mechanical exfoliation generates atomically thin TMD flakes possessing an area of a few square microns, chemical and physical methods provide high-quality monolayers on large-area substrates, which are suitable for actual technological applications. TMDs are a class of van […]
If you follow anything related to genetics, you’re probably thinking that it is old news, as the first draft was already published in 2000, but actually there were still missing parts. Now, thanks to new sequencing technologies, the human genome is completely sequenced. In the journal Science , six papers published back-to-back explain how this […]
Plants that inhabit the Earth have the incredible ability to grow continually for hundreds of years, and always towards the light of the sun, which provides them with the necessary energy to sprout. At the source of this growth are changes in their environment, such as variations in light, temperature and humidity. But new stimuli […]
Blasting out Earth’s location with the hope of reaching aliens is a controversial idea – two teams of scientists are doing it anyway If a person is lost in the wilderness, they have two options. They can search for civilization, or they could make themselves easy to spot by building a fire or writing HELP […]
One of the biggest difficulties of bringing new therapeutic methods into clinical practice is targeted delivery. A recent study shows the potential of using a gel for topical gene therapy. Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa is a genetic disease that affects proper skin formation. The affected people have an extremely fragile skin, which often suffers from […]
Author: José R. Pineda got his Ph.D. from University of Barcelona in 2006. Since 2007 he has worked for Institut Curie and The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Currently, he is a researcher of the UPV/EHU. He investigates the role of stem cells in physiologic and pathologic conditions. In a previous work Jenny […]
Acute leukemia is characterized by the proliferation and accumulation of hematopoietic progenitor cells (which are able to differentiate to create specialized cell types) in the bone marrow that impede normal blood production. D epending on the cell population affected, it can be classified in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). ALL starts […]
The UN’s new IPCC report on the mitigation of climate change says that immediate and deep emissions reductions are needed to limit global warming, along with removing carbon dioxide back out of the air in future. Meanwhile, the world’s governments are urging fossil fuel companies to drill for more oil and gas as fast as […]
Imagine a Universe that started with a huge explosion setting the beginning of space and time to the point that such concepts have no meaning until then. Imagine a Universe that, after an inflationary phase (extremely fast expansion), kept expanding and forming stars and galaxies distributed in a sponge-like structure dominated by walls and filaments […]