The custom-built ink-jet printer, developed at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, can deposit and immobilize growth factors in virtually any design, pattern or concentration, laying down patterns on native extracellular matrix-coated slides (such as fibrin). These slides are then placed in culture dishes and topped with muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs). Based on pattern, dose or factor printed by the ink-jet, the MDSCs can be directed to differentiate down various cell-fate differentiation pathways (e.g. bone- or muscle-like). "Previously, researchers have been limited to directing stem cells to differentiate toward multiple lineages in separate culture vessels. This is not how the body works: the body is one vessel in which multiple tissues are patterned and formed. The ink-jet printing technology allows us to precisely engineer multiple unique microenvironments by patterning bio-inks that could promote differentiation towards multiple lineages simultaneously," explained Phil Campbell, research professor at Carnegie Mellon's Institute for Complex Engineered Systems.

And Prodi does have an unusual tie to the Moro kidnapping: In 1978, he and other professors at the University of Bologna held a séance, in which a Ouija board spelled the word "Gradoli," which turned out to be the address of a Red Brigades safe house.

The world's last documented case of smallpox killed photographer Janet Parker in 1978 after the virus escaped from a lab at the University of Birmingham in England.

Research unveiled today is projecting that by the year 2050, all current fish and seafood species will collapse. The report is the work of 12 researchers worldwide and is published in this week's edition of the journal Science

There is evidence that cocaine use increases the chance of spontaneous miscarriage or a low-birth-weight baby. But any later deficits were caused not by crack but by lack of prenatal care, poverty, and malnutrition. Doctors argue that the stigma of being a crack baby does more damage than the crack exposure.

Brain scans of a 23-year-old woman who, in a traffic accident, sustained head injuries so severe she met the clinical criteria for a vegetative state are forcing many doctors to reconsider what they know about such patients' awareness. In the experiment the woman was instructed to imagine playing tennis or walking around her house for 30 seconds when given the cues "tennis" or "house." Her brain activity proved identical to that of healthy subjects, suggesting that she carried out the commands.

The discovery of a vast lake of liquid carbon dioxide beneath the ocean floor off Taiwan has startled earth scientists and raised hopes for a new strategy against carbon dioxide–related global warming. That such a lake can even exist lends empirical support to a seemingly blue-sky proposal: Inject excess atmospheric CO2 deep into the ocean, where the high pressure would trap the gas in a liquid form.

De har ett intressant grepp som jag inte sett nån annanstans - en trenivå-struktur där den första nivån ger de basala grunderna på enkelt språk, den andra nivån ger detaljer och den tredje nivån består av själva "källdokumentet"; den rapport (eller liknande) de förklarar.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins and from the University of Milan have effectively proven that they can inhibit lethal human brain cancers in mice using a protein that selectively induces positive changes in the activity of cells that behave like cancer stem cells. The report is published this week in Nature.

Because volatile short-term movements in productivity growth obscure the underlying trend, shifts in this trend may go unrecognized for years—a lag that can lead to policy mistakes and hence economic instability. This study develops a model for tracking productivity that brings in additional variables to help reveal the trend. The model’s success is evident in its ability to detect changes in trend productivity within a year or two of their occurrence. Currently, the model indicates that the underlying trend remains strong despite recent weak productivity data.

In a report published in the Nov. 27 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the Hopkins team says boosted levels of the chemical messenger nitric oxide appear to dampen the effects of a specialized cell that diverts the immune system away from tumors, allowing swarms of cancer-attacking T-cells to migrate to tumor sites in the rodents. Lab-grown cancer cells treated with sildenafil showed similar results, as did tissue samples taken from 14 head and neck cancer and multiple myeloma patients.

The development of a truly safe and highly effective nonlethal crowd-control system could raise enormous ethical questions about the state's use of coercive force

Traces of radiation have been found at the British Embassy in Moscow as the Scotland Yard investigation into Alexander Litvinenko's death continues.

# Presents views from both cognitive psychology and neuroscience from the leading scientists in the neurocognition of memory # Presents multi-level analyses of memory binding (including behavioural phenomena, their underlying neural structures, and computational modelling) to give a comprehensive account of this phenomemon # Includes contributions from leaders in the field of memory research to provide a state-of-the-art integrated account of binding

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

But in their analysis of response styles, the researchers found that it was the partners’ reactions to their loved ones’ victories, small and large, that most strongly predicted the strength of the relationships.

Brussels will continue to treat Mediterranean and eastern European states the same way in terms of political status (zero recognition of anybody's EU accession hopes) and opportunities for deeper trade integration (the EU is keen to create free trade zones with all ENP states).

scientists from the University of Bristol believe that they found evidence of altered taste in people who have abnormal levels of serotonin and noradrenaline. Since these neurotransmitters are also thought to be involved in depression, scientists envision a taste test that might in the future diagnose bipolar disorder.

considering that childhood mental disorders can be triggered or made worse by inadequate social and emotional care, some worry that these drugs are being used to pacify children without addressing what might be the root cause of the problem in the family.

Guo's nanomotor is derived from the biological motor of bacteriophage phi29, a virus that infects bacteria. The virus uses the motor to package DNA and move it into the capsid, a shell made of proteins, as part of the viral reproduction process.