<< Innovation can come from anywhere—not just academics—but only if we allow for a non-linear and unrestricted approach to inquiry and discovery. >>
Ryan Merkley (@ryanmerkley ). You Pay to Read Research You Fund. That’s Ludicrous. April 18, 2016
http://www.wired.com/2016/04/stealing-publicly-funded-research-isnt-stealing/
<< Do you like surprises? If you don’t, it might be because our nervous system works very hard to avoid being surprised. This often involves the nervous system trying to predict or “model” its own future as accurately as possible. For example, when we are listening to a string of sounds that appears to be unpredictable, such as a Charlie Parker-esque saxophone solo, our brain will still try to predict what the next note will be >>
Jonas Obleser. Perception: Tell me something I don’t know. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15853 Published April 19, 2016. eLife 2016;5:e15853
<< This photograph, taken from the International Space Station (ISS), shows the north coast of Trinidad and a series of subtle, interacting arcs in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. These are known as “internal waves,” the surface manifestation of slow waves that move tens of meters beneath the sea surface. Internal waves produce enough of an effect on the sea surface to be seen from space, but only where they are enhanced due to reflection of sunlight, or sunglint, back towards the International Space Station. The image shows at least three sets of internal waves interacting. The most prominent set (image top left) shows a packet of several waves moving from the northwest due to the tidal flow towards the north coast of Trinidad. Two less prominent, younger sets can be seen further out to sea. A very broad set enters the view from the north and northeast, and interacts at image top center with the first set. All the internal waves are probably caused by the shelf break near Tobago (outside the image to top right). The shelf break is the step between shallow seas (around continents and islands) and the deep ocean. It is the line at which tides usually start to generate internal waves. >>
NASA Earth Observatory. Internal Waves off Northern Trinidad. February 4, 2013
http://m.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80337
image: download large image (391 KB, JPEG, 1440x960)
http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/80000/80337/ISS034-E-032377_lrg.jpg
<< The most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer -- often described as one of the hardest malignancies to diagnose and treat -- thrives in the presence of neighboring tumor cells undergoing a particular form of "orchestrated cell death." >>
<< Our findings are the first to show that cancer cell death via necroptosis [programmed necrosis] can actually promote tumor growth, as this process results in suppression of the body's immune response against the cancer, (..) what is equally significant is that these findings might also be relevant to other tumor types. >>
<< This study exemplifies the importance of examining cancer within the actual context in which it grows (..) In our initial studies, inhibiting necroptosis in PDAC [pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma] cells increased their ability to grow in tissue culture. However, when we began to study the same process in mice, we were surprised to see just the opposite effect, and this was mainly due to the immune response of the cells surrounding the tumor. >>
NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER / NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. Cell death mechanism may - paradoxically - enable aggressive pancreatic cells to live on. 22-Apr-2016
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/nlmc-cdm042216.php
Lena Seifert , Gregor Werba, et al. The necrosome promotes pancreatic oncogenesis via CXCL1 and Mincle-induced immune suppression. Nature 532, 245–249 (14 April 2016) doi:10.1038/nature17403.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v532/n7598/full/nature17403.html
<< (..) few positive learning experiences are sufficient to increase empathy. >>
Hein G, Engelmann JB, et al. How learning shapes the empathic brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jan 5;113(1):80-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1514539112.
<< During their life, plants constantly renew themselves. They sprout new leaves in the spring and shed them in the fall. >>
<< When it is time to shed an organ, a small hormone binds to this membrane receptor and, together with a helper protein, the abscission process is initiated. >>
<< To fully initiate the abscission process, another player is needed: the helper protein SERK1. >>
<< The fascinating thing about SERK1 is that it not only plays a role in the shedding mechanism of plant organs, but also acts together with other membrane receptors that regulate totally different aspects of plant development >>
<< Indeed, SERK1 is a versatile helper protein shared between different signaling pathways. When bound to another protein receptor, it can also for example signal the plant to grow. >>
Unveiling the withering process. April 14, 2016
http://scienmag.com/unveiling-the-withering-process/
Julia Santiago, Benjamin Brandt, et al.
Mechanistic insight into a peptide hormone signaling complex mediating floral organ abscission. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15075. Published April 8, 2016. eLife 2016;10.7554/eLife.15075
<< Science rests on data, of that there can be no doubt. But ... >>
<< (..) so the next best thing is precision medicine, where we look at how genetically similar people react and then assume that a given person will respond in a similar way. >>
Peter Coveney, Edward R Dougherty. Big data has not revolutionised medicine we need big theory alongside it. 19 April 2016, 16:02 CEST
https://theconversation.com/big-data-has-not-revolutionised-medicine-we-need-big-theory-alongside-it-55356
FonT: ironicamente, chi a suo tempo ha coniato (o usato piu' o meno acriticamente) il termine "junk DNA" forse non ha preso in considerazione il fatto che quella parte di codice, benche' di serialita' (sequenzialita') quasistocastica, avrebbe potuto contenere la parte piu' importante del "sistema operativo" della vita, vale a dire il kernel dove risiedono le istruzioni di differenziazione, di regolazione, di riparazione sul codice ... e forse anche le banche dati storiche e mnesiche ... istruzioni e banche dati di "assoluta precisione", per dire ...
" junk DNA" cfr http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22junk+dna%22
