RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Fruits could help make ‘green’ cars!
Washington: Scientists have developed a new way to use fibres from bananas, pineapples and other fruits to make a new generation of green vehicles. Nano-cellulose material from bananas, pineapples and other fruit can be used to make strong, light-weight, and more sustainable motor vehicle parts, the researchers found. “The properties of these plastics are incredible”, said study lead author Alcides Leao, Sao Paulo State University College of Agriculture Sciences, Sao Paulo, Brazil. “They are light, but very strong – 30% lighter and 3 to 4 times stronger than the materials used today. We believe that lot of car parts including dashboards, bumpers, side panels, will be made of nano-sized fruit fibres in the future. “For one thing, they will help reduce the weight of the cars and that will improve fuel economy. They also will help us make more sturdy vehicles”, Leao added.
Researchers find possible drug target for PTSD
Chicago: People with post-traumatic stress disorder appear to have lower levels of a specific kind of brain chemical known as serotonin IB, and targeting this with drugs could lead to the first treatments specifically targeting the disorder, researchers said. Currently, doctors use antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs to treat PTSD, but these are largely ineffective and were never specifically developed to treat the disorder, in which trauma victims suffer from recurrent memories of trauma, intense guilt or worry, angry outbursts and bad dreams.
Cancer drug from cells’ communication
Washington: Cells chat with one another, ‘discussing’ what kind they will become – a neuron or a hair, bone or muscle. This breakthrough opens the way to develop cancer drugs that target these transactions and halt production of cancer cells. Because cells continuously multiply, it’s easy to imagine a cacophony of communication. But David Sprinzak, Tel Aviv University molecular biologist at the George Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, suggests cells know when to chat and when to shut up and let other cells carry on. Sprinzak, working with California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers, has uncovered the mechanism that allows cells to switch from sender to receiver mode or vice versa, the journal ‘Public Library of Science Computational Biology’ reports IANS.
Regeneration of Zebrafish holds hope for deafness
Washington: Loud noise is known to irreversibly damage hair cells within the inner ear of mammals and cause deafness, but the ability of Zebrafish to regrow these cells holds hope, new research says. Researchers from Western Kentucky University and University of Louisville worked together to see which genes were switched on or off after outside acoustic trauma, according to the BMC journal ‘Neuroscience’.
Washington: Scientists have developed a new way to use fibres from bananas, pineapples and other fruits to make a new generation of green vehicles. Nano-cellulose material from bananas, pineapples and other fruit can be used to make strong, light-weight, and more sustainable motor vehicle parts, the researchers found. “The properties of these plastics are incredible”, said study lead author Alcides Leao, Sao Paulo State University College of Agriculture Sciences, Sao Paulo, Brazil. “They are light, but very strong – 30% lighter and 3 to 4 times stronger than the materials used today. We believe that lot of car parts including dashboards, bumpers, side panels, will be made of nano-sized fruit fibres in the future. “For one thing, they will help reduce the weight of the cars and that will improve fuel economy. They also will help us make more sturdy vehicles”, Leao added.
Researchers find possible drug target for PTSD
Chicago: People with post-traumatic stress disorder appear to have lower levels of a specific kind of brain chemical known as serotonin IB, and targeting this with drugs could lead to the first treatments specifically targeting the disorder, researchers said. Currently, doctors use antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs to treat PTSD, but these are largely ineffective and were never specifically developed to treat the disorder, in which trauma victims suffer from recurrent memories of trauma, intense guilt or worry, angry outbursts and bad dreams.
Cancer drug from cells’ communication
Washington: Cells chat with one another, ‘discussing’ what kind they will become – a neuron or a hair, bone or muscle. This breakthrough opens the way to develop cancer drugs that target these transactions and halt production of cancer cells. Because cells continuously multiply, it’s easy to imagine a cacophony of communication. But David Sprinzak, Tel Aviv University molecular biologist at the George Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, suggests cells know when to chat and when to shut up and let other cells carry on. Sprinzak, working with California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers, has uncovered the mechanism that allows cells to switch from sender to receiver mode or vice versa, the journal ‘Public Library of Science Computational Biology’ reports IANS.
Regeneration of Zebrafish holds hope for deafness
Washington: Loud noise is known to irreversibly damage hair cells within the inner ear of mammals and cause deafness, but the ability of Zebrafish to regrow these cells holds hope, new research says. Researchers from Western Kentucky University and University of Louisville worked together to see which genes were switched on or off after outside acoustic trauma, according to the BMC journal ‘Neuroscience’.
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