Original article: Olzsak T. et al, Science (2012, epub ahead of print)

It has been known by epidemiologists that people who grew up in farms are less likely to acquire immune diseases such as asthma, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis when compared to people living in cities. Such observations have been the roots of “hygiene hypothesis,” which essentially points out the beneficial effects of being exposed to infectious agents. Supporting this theory, a recent study at Harvard Medical School showed that exposure to symbiotic bacteria has a long lasting beneficial effect on the immune system development. “We as a species are not exposed to the same germs that we were exposed to in the past,” said the co-author Dennis Kasper, a microbiologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston. In this study, published in Science, the researchers compared germ-free mice to mice with normal bacterial flora. Germ-free mice showed significantly higher levels of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells in their colons and lungs. “We made the serendipitous observation that these cells were dramatically enriched in the lung and colon in mice that lacked any microbes,” said the co-author Richard Blumberg, the chief of gastroenterology at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston. Body’s own production of elevated iNKT cells correlated with higher susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease and allergic asthma in germ-free mice. Most strikingly, the study showed that exposure to these bacteria in late age did not lower the susceptibility to these immune diseases, indicating that the bacterial exposure needs to be early in life to boost the immune system. After all, broad-spectrum antibiotics for babies may not be such a good idea.

2- Giant chickens of Jurassic Park

Original article: Xu X. et al, Nature 484, 92 (2012)

Many of us undoubtedly learned a lot about dinosaurs from the famous Sci-fi movie Jurassic Park, but who would have imagined that some gigantic feathered dinosaurs would be running along with our favorite monster T-Rex? Paleontologists have recently made an incredible discovery in Liaoning Province of China. They found a set of perfectly preserved fossils that belong to a previously unknown species of dinosaurs. These 125-million-year-old feathered giant dinosaurs represent the largest feathered animal species ever lived on earth. The adult one is predicted to be at least 9 meters (30 feet) long with a weight of 1400 kg (~3000 pounds), which is approximately 40 times bigger than the Beipiaosaurus, largest known feathered dinosaur. New gigantic feathered dinosaurs are given a Chinese-Latin name Yutyrannus huali meaning a “beautiful feathered tyrant.” Simple filament like structures as well as the relatively small sizes of feathers seem more similar to feathers from a baby chick than the plumes of an adult bird, suggesting that Yutyrannus used feathers not for flying but for body temperature insulation, perhaps under the harsh climate conditions of that age. Paleontologists are really excited to see that how much more we have learned about dinosaurs over last 15 years and they predict that many different feathered meat-eating dinosaurs lived before and they are still yet to be discovered.

3- Stardust mystery revealed

Original article: Norris B.R.M. et al, Nature 484, 220 (2012)

Heavy elements are formed in the cores of stars and are crucial in formation of celestial structures like our earth. When an intermediate-mass star dies, it triggers a cosmic sandstorm that lasts thousands of years ejecting more than half of its mass into space. Our Sun is expected to go into a similar phase in around 5 billion years. Scientists observed these sandstorms for years but it was a mystery how these particles found could leave the vicinity of the stars and find their way into interstellar space. Computer simulations hinted that these sand-like particles could not be that small, otherwise they would be evaporated by the immense heat of the dying star. Scientists using the Very Large Telescope in Chile had a chance to explore these stars in a greater detail and discovered that the size of these particles is around a micrometer. This size might seem very small to us but for these particles, it is large enough to behave like mirrors for the light rays coming out of the star instead of absorbing them. Since light also behaves like a particle, the momentum transferred by this reflection helps particles to accelerate to the speeds like 10km/second. As the lead author of the study, Barnaby Norris from University of Sydney says: “The dust grains are like lots of little sails catching the wind, or in this case, starlight.” The material that comes out of the stars is recycled during the formation of new stellar objects like our old planet.

4- Babies understand more than we think

Original article: Bergelsona, E. & Swingley, D., P.N.A.S. 109, 3252 (2012)

Most babies do not say a meaningful word until they are a year old. It was not clear whether they knew the meaning of the words prior to the speaking age. It is easy to ask the question on whether the babies understand words but it is hard to scientifically measure it. The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania devised an ingenious experiment to test the hypothesis whether the 6-9 months babies understood the common words. During the experiment babies sat on their parents’ lap in front of a computer while some images of body parts or foods were shown on the screen. The parents were given instructions through headphones about what to say to the baby about the image on the screen. Babies were monitored by an eye-tracking device to measure their attention being directed to screen. The researchers designed a control environment by pairing a body part and a food item. For instance, if a banana and some hair were shown on the screen, the researchers measured the time that the baby fixated on the banana when the parent instructed the child to look at the banana versus when the parent instructed the baby to look at the hair. 33 infants of ages 6 to 9 months and 50 toddlers of ages 10 to 20 months were recruited for this study. The study convincingly showed that the babies fixated longer on an object when they were instructed to do so. Moreover, as the age of the babies increased the period of fixation stayed pretty much constant until 14 months, but jumped dramatically afterwards. The reason behind the jump in 14 months begs further research. Now, the researchers want also to test the vocabulary of the babies and whether the babies also understand the abstract concepts.

Especially after the 1950s, divergent thinking has been studied a lot by psychologists. Innovations, discoveries and novelties have been associated with divergent thinking which intrigued the scholars in the fields of management, military and advertisement, as well as psychology and education. However, we lack studies that link the concept of divergent thinking to religious texts. One basic contribution of employing divergent thinking to religious texts would be to broaden the understanding of the texts and to seek alternative perspectives. Such endeavor seems consistent with the consideration that religion (hence, religious texts) is an everlasting source of wisdom and inspiration, and if so, why is it confined to the early interpretations? Why not become seekers of original interpreters of religious texts and discover the unveiled aspects of it? This article will discuss the perspective from psychology and religious texts to find an answer for these questions in the case of Islam.

Among the several views on divergent thinking, a brief psychological framework that can be applied to religious texts would be helpful. This framework was conceptualized by Donald Campbell (1960). According to this, in order for original ideas to appear, the initial task would be thinking in various ways. This phase is called “blind variation.” Think of the question “List possible uses of a brick.” Possible answers to such prompts would be “build a wall,” “break into pieces,” “step on it to reach something” or “use as a pillow.” Among those responses, the first one (“build a wall”) would be a conventional response while the second, third and fourth responses are non-conventional or original ideas. However, the fourth one “use as a pillow” does not seem to be an appropriate or useful response even though it is original. Therefore, appropriateness and originality may not go hand in hand and such original but non-useful and inappropriate ideas should be filtered out. This phase is called “selective retention” which makes the process of divergent thinking more valid and a functional way of idea generation. When we apply this two-stage method of idea generation to the field of theology, verse(s) of the spiritual texts could be regarded as prompts to ponder systematically.

Two basic approaches to religions should be recalled here. One school of thought, known as orthodoxy, refers to adherence to traditional and established views on the texts. Because of the persistence on the traditional views, orthodoxy was regarded in relation to dogmatism and accused of lacking originality (Shedd, 1893). Heterodoxy implies a departure from the established and traditional views of orthodoxy. Apparently, this article does not favor a strict orthodoxy as it does not add new perspectives to our understanding of the religions. On the other hand, the extent of departure which is not at odds with the general framework of a given religion is of interest. Given the two aspects of divergent thinking (blind variation and selective retention) discussed above, generation of original ideas and novel inspirations from the religious texts can be theoretically achieved without deviating from the given frameworks of the religions.

Divergent thinking for religious texts

If one thinks of religious texts of the monotheistic religions, Biblical Judaism goes back to 4th century BCE; Christianity has a history of more than two millennium. Islam, being the recent religion, has a history of 15 centuries. The texts are obviously old and for an academic field of study, there is an enormous amount of knowledge accumulated throughout the centuries by many scholars. On the other hand, those deeply rooted traditions have created their own ways of understanding which contributed to the convergence and contraction of the interpretations. Even though converging perspectives might yield more accurate interpretations, it is still possible that many subtle or alternative aspects of religious texts have probably been ignored or not yet discovered.

As time goes by, the discrepancy between the interpretation of human beings and the original texts have increased with excessive amounts of the interpretations masking the divine message of the original texts. Interpretations converged and shrank even more since new generations were simply taught what the early generations have understood instead of being encouraged to generate new meanings. The natural transmission of religious knowledge survived for centuries. Yet, it is possible to put forward that convergent thinking has been overwhelmingly weighted in the field of theology as in other fields for the purpose of finding the single best interpretation of religious texts. We owe current level of knowledge to those scholars with a divergent mind who intervened in the process of religious thinking and teaching, and enlarged the horizons of religious thought.

As a matter of fact, older interpretations of religious texts may not always be compatible with the problems and needs of contemporary life. Since the life conditions and the intellectual climate (or zeitgeist) have dramatically changed and today’s intellectuals are educated in a different mindset which separate religious thought and scientific/philosophical issues into two distinct categories, arguments of theologians have become less convincing than they used to be. Critically, this insufficiency has been attributed to the religion itself such as “opiate of the masses” rather than the religious scholars who are unable to reproduce the religious thinking in contemporary ages without removing it from its fundamentals or simply attempting to reform it. For a theologian who believes in the idea that the role and mission of religion never ends and the religion is able to guide human beings eternally, being satisfied with the traditional views and taken-for-granted interpretations should not suffice. Indeed, the attempt to inquire new ways of interpretations of the scriptures does not necessarily negate the previous interpretations because they had validity under certain conditions in the past, and can explain today to a considerable degree. In other words, employment of divergent thinking in understanding the texts should aim to enrich and widen perspectives of the individuals rather than replacing the current views and reforming the religions.

The contribution of divergent thinking to religions can be seen in the works of scholars who came up with divergent interpretations to the texts. Richness in their interpretations without imposing necessarily one unique truth provides the readers with room for elaborating on the texts and interpretations. This attitude helps people to diverge their thinking and even go beyond what they literally see in the texts.

Some examples

There are many examples of divergent interpretation in the works of Said Nursi who is a prominent twentieth century Muslim scholar. One of the foremost features of Nursi is his approach to questions, verses of Qur’an and hadiths (collection of writings that document the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) in multiple ways. For example, Nursi has shown several ways to interpret one hadith about cosmology:

People asked the Prophet what the earth rests upon. He replied that the earth rests upon a fish and another time upon an ox. This hadith has been discredited given the cosmology knowledge of human beings when it is taken literally. However, alternative explanations of the hadith show how some allegoric statements in the religious texts can be understood. His first interpretation was about the angels created by God who are responsible for every creation in the universe called as “commissioned angels.”

Two angels were created for the earth. Their names were “thawr” (meaning ox) and ‘hut’ (meaning fish). With that in mind, this verse means that the earth would not survive if these angels did not take care of it.

Another interpretation was related to the way people make their living. Especially in the past, people were making their living through farming and hunting. Ox represents the farming and fish represents hunting. The third interpretation is based on the different answers given at different times. According to this interpretation, the earth was on particular cosmological position or horoscope. Nursi also argued that this kind of response is legitimate because people at that time would not understand the complexity of the cosmology and the Prophet told them the truth in a way they would understand.

Another such example that Nursi interprets by going beyond its literal meaning is the verse about Moses (peace be upon him):

Again (remember) when Moses (on an occasion when his people were without water in the desert) beseeched water for his people, so We told him: “Strike the rock with your staff!” (As soon as he struck) there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew their drinking place. Eat and drink of that which God has provided, and do not go about acting wickedly on earth, causing disorder and corruption. (Qur’an 2:60)

According to Nursi, this verse prophesized the discovery of sounding underground to get water. This explanation is legitimate given the context that the solution is suggested “miraculously” after the people asked help from Moses for their need for water.

Nursi, as a divergent thinker, viewed the miracles in the Qur’an in a different way than others. In classical view, the extraordinary events that take place in Qur’an were indicative of the strength that God has granted some special people in history. Nursi did not restrict those verses within this view. According to him, those verses conveyed a more critical message for us as well as their message in their own contexts. The extraordinary events that happened in the past also indicate the ultimate level human beings can arrive at by working hard on sciences. This message of the miracles is the possibility that other people who work hard on understanding the rules of the nature designed by God could also achieve what have been wondrously achieved before. Therefore, those miracles that the Qur’an mentioned are not some stories that should solely bewilder, but call human beings to go beyond their limited knowledge and discover the further facts. If every technology that we take for granted was some sort of a miracle in the past, why not chase the new “miracles” by thinking outside of the box? As a result, the miracles in the Qur’an are more than the stories of unexplainable events. Such subtle messages however, are read only by divergent minds that transcend the cursory meanings.

There are many examples which scientific advances uncovered alternative interpretations of texts. The Fountain readers are very lucky to brainstorm novel interpretations. One example of divergent explanations about the verses of Holy Qur’an is the description of creation of iron. In one issue several years back Nuh Gedik (2006) brought an interesting comment on the 25th verse of Sura Hadid: “…And We sent down Iron, in which is great might, as well as many benefits for mankind….” Scholars used to interpret “sending down” the iron as one of the God-sent blessings coming from above, His supreme treasure consisting of everything. “Sending down” is taken as metaphorical, reflecting the relationship (status) between human beings and God, rather than its literal meaning. Even though this interpretation might be correct, Gedik argued that being “physically sent down from the sky miraculously points out to a very important scientific fact that was discovered only very recently” (Gedik, 2006).

According to Gedik, supernova explosions that create very high energy and heat can allow a heavy element like iron to form. According to this scenario, formation of iron can be attributed to supernova explosions that occur in Space and “sent down” on earth rather than the scenario that presumes iron resides under the soil as a consequence of some chemical reactions. While these two scenarios do not necessarily conflict, the former and more recent one gives birth to another interpretation.

The same verse inspired other divergent minds too. Salih S. Duran (2009) explained another mechanism that results in the “sending down” of iron. According to this argument, desert sands in varied magnitude travels on the air and are hanged on the atmosphere where the miraculous chemical reactions that reduce Fe+3 to Fe+2 are fulfilled with the help of water vapor and sun. Eventually, resultant iron materials are descended to earth with the rains. Those two novel explanations are neither the best nor the ultimate perspectives, but are worth considering while reading the Qur’an.

Limitations

More examples can be found, but a critical question still remains to be answered: Can we come up with any interpretation for the verses? Are there limitations to interpret the verses? The answer for these questions lies in the perspective that is provided in the beginning of this article where I discussed the processes of blind variation and selective retention. Religions (specifically Islam in the scope of this article) have basic belief systems and the understanding of the verses and hadiths have to be understood in accordance with this basic structure. For this reason, some original interpretations may not be the valid interpretations. In fact, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, warned “Whoever explains the Qur’an according to his [wrong] personal opinion shall take his place in Hell.” Some experts who focused on the outward meanings of the Qur’an have argued that this hadith prohibits personal interpretations at all, and understanding and interpreting Qur’an should merely rely on early interpretations like those of Ibn Abbas and other exegetes. Quasam (1982) outlined Al-Gazali’s theory regarding the recitation and interpretation of the Qur’an where he objected to the interpretation of this hadith as evidence negating the attempts to make new interpretations. He argued that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, also said that “Surely the Qur’an has an outward aspect, inward aspect, a limit and a prelude.” If there is an inward aspect, how can we achieve to learn it? Assuming that early interpretations have covered all possible meanings contradicts with the presence of inward aspect. If the outward meaning is clear and enough, and there is no need to seek anything new in it, why did Ali, the fourth caliph, say “If I so will I can certainly load seventy camels with the exegesis of the Opening Sura (chapter) of the Book” while this chapter is very short? Then the question is, how can we reconcile those hadiths which seem to conflict with each other?

Al-Gazali argued that this hadith actually prohibits the interpretations which aim to adduce arguments that favor interpreters’ own purposes or passions whether it is a valid purpose or not. With such incentive, the interpretation is simply corrupt rather than a personal effort to understand the Qur’an. A second reason is to prohibit those who try to interpret the Qur’an without any fundamental knowledge of the Qur’an and Arabic language which are necessary for the outward aspects. Therefore, this hadith should be seen as a warning for the appropriateness of the interpretations. Now, the nature of divergent thinking as suggested by Campbell (1960) should be recalled. Even though developing several meanings of the religious texts corresponding to blind variation is critical, it should be tested within the overall framework of the religions which is the criterion for the stage of selective retention.

To conclude, divergent thinking is one of the promising abilities of human intellect that many fields like education, psychology, management and military have utilized. However, the need for divergent thinkers is increased in the era which people cannot appreciate the intellectual depth in religious texts. Different and legitimate interpretations of religious texts will reform people’s minds regarding the potential in the old texts for our civilization and intellectual life. Contributions of Islamic scholars like Said Nursi should encourage other divergent minds for new inspirations and state-of-art perspectives.

Zekeriya Ozsoy is doctoral student studying educational psychology. For correspondence with the author: ozsoyzekeriya@gmail.com.

References

• Quasem, A. M. 1982. The recitation and interpretation of the Qurān. Al-Ghazālī’s theory. London: Kegan Paul International
• Duran, S. S. 2009. Iron: A boon that comes with desert sands. [Turkish-Col kumuyla gelen nimet: Demir]. Sizinti, 369, 454-457.
• Guilford, J. P. 1950. Creativity. American Psychologist. 5, 444-454.
• Gedik, N. 2006. Supernova Explosions and a Miracle of the Qur’an. Fountain, 54,
• Shedd, W.G.T. 1893. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy. New York: Scribner’s Sons.
• At-Tirmidhi, Sunan, Tafsir, 1.

Original article: Czupryn, A. et al., Science 334, 1133 (2011).

Neurons are a highly specialized group of cells that transmit electrical stimuli to elicit responses in the body. This high specialization comes with a price: with few exceptions, neurons cannot divide to replace nonfunctional ones. Over the past decade, cell therapy, that is treatment of a disease by introducing new cells, has emerged as a new hope for neurological disorders such as spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, albeit with numerous challenges. One of the major problems in the field is to make the newly-introduced cells integrate into the neural circuitry of the host organism. This proof-of-concept study showed that it is possible for transplanted neurons to functionally integrate into the host brain and cure obesity in a specific genetic mouse model. This genetic mouse model lacks the ability to sense leptin, a hormone that regulates body weight and metabolism. Thus, these mice are prone to obesity and diabetes. The authors transplanted progenitor neurons isolated from the hypothalamus-a part of the brain that regulates numerous functions including metabolism, hunger and body temperature-of normal embryonic mice to the hypothalami of newborn diseased mice. Twenty weeks after the transplantation, cells were shown to be functionally integrated into the native circuitry. Integrated neurons were able to create electrical stimuli, transmit signals and, unlike the native neurons, respond to the hormone, leptin. Amazingly, transplanted mice were 30% lower in body weight and diabetes-free compared to the obese non-transplanted counterparts. The results were dramatic, despite the fact that only a few of the transplanted neurons were actually converted to the neurons that play a role in energy metabolism and leptin response. The authors explain this phenomenon by stating that the transplanted neurons may work as “antennas” to sense leptin and regulate other neurons in the native circuitry. Although current research is far from human application, it is still an important step towards treatment of detrimental neurological diseases.

2- A new record in solar cell efficiency

Original Article: Yella, A. et al., Science 334, 629 (2011).

Since their discovery in 1991, dye-sensitized solar cells (also known as Grätzel cells) have offered great potential despite their low efficiency values. They consist of dye-soaked titania nanoparticles coupled to an iodide-based electrolyte that allows for absorption of light and its conversion to electricity through the fast transport of electrons. According to a report in Science, researchers from ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have substantially improved the efficiency values over 12%, making this type of solar cells a feasible contender to the incumbent silicon solar cells. To store the most sunlight, these cells absorb the colors of the light spectrum with the highest energies and reject the rest such as the green light. In addition to the increase in cell efficiency, Grätzel and coworkers have also reduced their cost by replacing expensive ruthenium dyes with a zinc-based dye. Finally, they have improved the voltage output by using a cobalt electrolyte, a redox system that is more compatible than the previous iodide systems. This new system with improved components has also increased the theoretical maximum efficiency to 30%, which will require further optimization in device design and engineering to achieve. The only major drawback is the use of organic solvents potentially limiting the efforts for large-scale fabrication.

3- IQ can still change in teenage years

Original Article: Ramsden S. et al., Nature 479, 113 (2011).

Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a standardized measure of human intellectual capacity that takes into account a wide range of cognitive skills. IQ is generally considered to be stable across the lifespan, with scores at one time point being used to predict educational achievement and employment prospects in later years. However Prof. Cathy Price and colleagues have found that verbal and non-verbal IQ can rise or fall in the teenage years. They tested 33 teenagers-19 boys and 14 girls-in 2004, when they were 12 to 16 years old, and again in 2008, when they were 16 to 20 years old. Each time, the teens took IQ tests that measured their verbal and nonverbal abilities. Then, using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers scanned the teenagers’ brains while they performed verbal tasks, such as reading or naming objects, and nonverbal tasks, such as solving visual puzzles with their hands. The idea was to match their test scores with a picture of their brain structure and activity at each time. The test results revealed dramatic changes between their first testing and their second: verbal and nonverbal IQ scores of participants rose or fell by as many as 20 points (on a scale with an average score of 100). Some teens improved or declined in either their verbal or nonverbal skills, while others improved in one area and declined in the other. The brain scans mirrored the score differences. For example, in teens whose verbal IQ scores had increased, the scans showed increased gray matter density in a region of the brain activated by speech. Teens whose nonverbal skills had improved showed changes in a brain region associated with motor movements of the hand. The authors note that these were the largest changes observed, and that there might be many more that were not noticed.

4- A coordination path from an infant’s heart to the mother’s heart

Original Article: Feldman, R. et al., Infant Behavior and Development 34, 569 (2011).

A group of researchers sat 40 pairs of mothers and 3-month-old infants face-to-face, equipped with sticky skin electrodes on either side of their hearts. Beat for beat, mother and child’s hearts thumped together almost instantly as they shared loving looks or contented coos. This cardiac coupling worked only for moms with their own babies, and only when the duos synchronized smiles and other cheerful social behaviors. The researchers suspect that when humans mirror each other’s facial expressions, they may switch on specific areas in the brain that tell the heart when to thump. Melding with mom lasts longer than just a few beats, however. Babies who don’t tune in with their mothers are less empathetic as teenagers, according to previous work from the same group. Premature infants or those whose mothers have postpartum depression may be most at risk for losing this social skill because they miss out on early opportunities to interact with their mothers. The authors state that future research is required to examine the impact of interaction synchrony on other physiological processes, such as hormonal release or brain activation.

Original Article: Kim, D-H et al., Science 333, 838 (2011).

We often see patients in hospitals with many cables attached to their bodies. Now there is hope to replace these mobility-limiting settings with something very portable. Engineers have developed an ultrathin, stretchy, and flexible synthetic skin that consists of electronic components such as sensors, antennae, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Embedded solar cells or wireless power transfer can be employed to power the patch. The device is thin enough to stick to skin using only the short-range van der Waals forces without the addition of any adhesives, and it can be applied and removed like a temporary tattoo. As a result, electronic skin is much more comfortable than traditional electrodes and gives the user complete freedom of movement. These devices have many potential applications in medical diagnostics, including EEG and EMG sensors to monitor nerve and muscle activity. Gathering patient data during normal activity is especially beneficial for continuous monitoring of health and wellness. During the tests, the patches collected data accurately for up to six hours, and showed no signs of degradation or irritation to the arm, neck, forehead, cheek, or chin after 24 hours. In addition, the researchers used electronic skin to control a video game by collecting electrical activity of muscles from the user’s throat, demonstrating the potential for human-computer interfacing. In the near future, patients with muscular or neurological disorders could use this technology to communicate with computers. There is one major obstacle for long-term use. The patch falls off after a few days due to the continual shedding of skin cells. Researchers are looking for ways around this so they can be worn for months at a time.

2- Searching memory engines

Original Article: Sparrow, B. et al., Science 333, 776 (2011).

What is the capital of Liberia? Which year did Edison invent the light bulb? Are your fingers itching to “Google” the answers? Evidently, the answer is yes. Researchers led by Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University cleverly designed four experiments to investigate how we process information in our memory. In one experiment, participants were presented with trivia-like statements, e.g. “An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain,” to which they immediately thought about computers or accessing the Internet. In another experiment, participants were asked to type answers to trivia questions. The computer would either save or erase their answers. When participants thought their answers were saved, they remembered information less as opposed to the erased-from-the-computer-condition. In the other experiments, participants were given statements along with the names of the folders where one can reach that information (e.g. DATA, INFO, ITEMS). They remembered where to find the information (i.e. folders) more accurately than the information itself. To sum up, this research showed that we come to utilize computers or Google as external or transactive memory. In the 1980s, Daniel Wegner of Harvard University first coined the term “transactive memory.” Dr. Wegner, co-author of this article, suggested that people relied on others such as spouses or friends to remember various things. However, it seems like the duty is all on Google now.

3- Lasers come to life

Original Article: Gather, M.C. & Yun, S.H., Nature Photonics 5, 406 (2011).

Since its invention in 1960, the laser became an invaluable device that found uses in numerous applications in many segments of today’s world, including science, medicine, industry, electronics, and entertainment. Laser, an acryonym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, works through a process where light amplifies by bouncing back and forth between two mirrors. Sandwiched between these mirrors, lasers utilize a gain medium made of non-biological materials such as dyes or crystal. Two physicists at Harvard Medical School, Seok Hyun Yun and Malte Gather, were able to replace gain medium with a living cell. The cells used in this study produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) the material that makes jellyfish fluoresce. When illuminated with relatively weak blue light, GFP amplified the light and the cell produced a visible green laser. Even though their biolaser is currently in the development stage, the researchers predict that it will be very useful in science and medicine in the future. For example, they suggest that biolasing may be used for unraveling the structure of living cells. Yun and Gather are now trying to integrate a nanoscale cavity inside the cell rather than using external mirrors. Such self-lasing cells may allow medical applications where cells can be specifically targeted for disease treatment.

4- The smallest farmers of the world

Original Articles: Brock, D. A. et al., Nature 469, 393 (2011).

A social amoeba, Dictyostellum discoideum, lives independently and feeds on bacteria, but when the food becomes scarce, many amoebas bond and form a slug-like organism that can move around to find more resources to feed on. It was thought the amoeba exhausts all its resources by eating all nearby bacteria before forming the slug structure. Surprisingly, scientists from Rice University found that these single-cell organisms use a very simple form of agriculture in the form of bacterial husbandry. Agriculture in the general sense includes the scattering of food seeds, farming of crops, and harvesting. Humans have used agriculture for thousand of years and it was one of the transforming forces behind our switch from nomadic to settled lifestyles. Researchers showed that a group of amoeba, called farmers, eat less and engulf bacteria into their migratory systems instead of consuming all food they encounter. The slugs of the farmer amoeba travel slowly because of packed food, and one-third of Dicty found in nature turns out to be farmers. Apparently, being a farmer is a genetic trait but it comes with a cost: farmers produce less spores during feasts, but more during famine, which explains why there are both farmers and non-farmers still present. There are still many mysteries, yet this article shows the principles of frugality even in the single-cell realm.

Original Article: Ichinohe T. et al., PNAS (published online before print 2011).

Influenza, also known as seasonal flu, affects up to 5 million people annually. Flu viruses infect and damage the animal respiratory tract, especially the lungs. Upon flu virus infection, a life or death battle between an animal’s immune system and the flu virus begins. To defeat the flu virus, the animal’s immune system synthesizes important flu-fighting molecules. Researchers at Yale University discovered that mice on the antibiotic regimen, a treatment that wipes out certain bacteria which normally live in the guts of the animal hosts, showed deficiency in immune responses against flu virus in the lungs compared to mice that had not been treated. This finding suggests an unexpected link that the bacteria living in the animals seem to control the production of these flu-fighting molecules. These commensal bacteria, or good bacteria, prime the immune system in making flu-fighting molecules even before infection, and this priming is important for subsequent flu-fighting strategies. The exact bacterial species that helps fight the flu are yet to be identified. It is interesting to contemplate why the immune system trusts bacteria with such an important job. Whatever that reason might be this finding warns against misuse or abuse of antibiotics. We don’t want to kill the good bacteria that might just protect us in the next flu season.

2- Less talking with longer words

Original Article: Piantadosi S.T. et al., PNAS 108, 3526 (2011).

What factors affect the length of a word? Do we prefer to use short words or long words while we are talking? For many years, researchers believed that the most frequently used words tend to be short in order to make the language more efficient. It is intuitive when we think of words such as “a,” “the,” “but” and their popularity in our everyday life. However, according to a recent study done by Piandatosi and coworkers in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, the length of a word reflects the amount of information it contains. They observed that people use many words in predictable sequences along with other words in their daily life. Most of the time a short word may not contain information per se, but carry information as a collection with other familiar words. This observation led the researchers to look at the problem from an ‘information content’ perspective. A word is said to have more information if it is less predictable in a sequence. An analysis was done on the Google text database in 11 different languages. The results show that word length closely correlates to information content. Once again, it is not important how much you talk. It is important how much you mean.

3- Ups and downs of sleep with alpha waves

Original Article: McKinney S.M. et al., PLoS One 6, e17351 (2011).

Why do we randomly wake up in the middle of the night? Searching for an answer for this question, researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) discovered a brain rhythm that determines one’s susceptibility to disturbance by the outside world while asleep. Scott McKinney and his colleagues conducted a study where they analyzed the electroencephalographs (EEGs) of 13 volunteers, who spent 3 nights in MGH’s Sleep laboratory. EEG devices use electrodes on the scalp to detect electrical activity in the brain. There are four major brain waves that can be detected by EEG: alpha, beta, delta and theta waves. Alpha waves usually emanate from the back of the head during relaxed wakefulness, particularly when your eyes are closed, and they are thought to gradually disappear when a person goes to sleep. Researchers developed a special computational method that can probe EEGs in much deeper data resolutions. Their analyses revealed that alpha waves never disappear during sleep; they just go below conventional detection levels. Moreover, when alpha wave activity spikes just before an obnoxious auditory stimuli (e.g., loud talking or traffic noise) is played, volunteers seems to wake up more easily than when alpha wave activity was low. These findings suggest that maybe the alpha wave activity is the brain’s way of keeping us aware of our surroundings during sleep, and perhaps it enables us to wake up quickly in case of danger. Of course, too much alpha activity might also have a downside: it can make you a light sleeper and give you restless nights.

4- Killer whales imitate enemies and friends

Original Article: Wei B.M. et al., Marine Mammal Science (published online before print 2011).

In marine mammals, as individuals frequently cannot see each other, sound is particularly important for communication. Killer whales live in groups or clans, and these different clans have their own dialects. A recent study showed that whales can do more than just talk in their own language: they can mimic calls from other groups with a different dialect. While analyzing the social behavior of wild orcas living near Vancouver Island in British Colombia, a group of researchers from the University of Vienna discovered that resident whales occasionally produce call types from the repertoires of other vocal clans. The calls resemble the calls of foreign groups that the original group interacted with before. When different clans are in close proximity, it is quite challenging to reliably distinguish original calls from resembling calls. For this reason, researchers recorded calls that resemble call types of a different clan in the absence of that clan and compared them to the originals of the respective call types by analyzing their sonograms. Sonograms reveal distinctive information about the structure of the sound waves, i.e. the spectral density of these signals, and this information can be used to classify animal sounds. The comparative analysis clearly shows that killer whales can imitate calls from other groups even when members of that group are not around. Researchers suggest that this could be a way of labeling outsiders or keeping tabs on their location. Maybe by impersonating the calls of a group, they are conveying a message about that group to their own family members. It is exciting to see that vocal mimicry is not limited to songbirds and dolphins, and that killer whales have more complex social lives than we previously thought.

Original Article: Mak, G.K. & Weiss, S., Nature Neuroscience 13, 753 (2010).

Motherhood or maternal recognition is well characterized by associated brain plasticity during both early development and adulthood. Unlike motherhood, paternal-offspring recognition and its related brain plasticity is poorly understood. A group from University of Calgary designed a set of experiments to test whether father mice can recognize their own infants once they’ve reached adulthood. They exposed adult males to their own and genetically unrelated infants for 2 days. The fathers were tested for adult offspring recognition six weeks later. Assay compared the time spent by the fathers with their own and unrelated offsprings. Results showed that although the father mice show similar parenting behavior toward both sets of infants (own and adopted), they only recognize their own pups as adults. Paternal recognition is associated with increased prolactin (a hormone primarily associated to lactation), mediated neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb, and hippocampus, a major component of mammalian brain. These newly generated neurons are important for the formation of socially relevant olfactory memories. Authors also found that the fathers must physically interact with the infants in order to recognize them later. This is confirmed by some control experiments in which fathers are only allowed to see, smell or hear infants through a wire mesh barrier which was not sufficient to induce neurogenesis. One of the socially relevant benefits of paternal recognition of the infants as adults is to avoid incest interactions which cause inbreeding depression.

2- Recently revealed hideous effects of smoking on children

Original Articles: Brion, M.J. et al., Pediatrics 126, e57 (2010) & Kwok, M.K. et al., Pediatrics 126, e46 (2010).

Smoking is bad for our health, but apparently it may also have subtle, yet far-reaching consequences on our children according to two recent studies. The first study reports that mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have children with psychological problems. A related study presents evidence that babies who develop in the presence of second-hand smoke (from their fathers) may develop weight problems. Dr. Mary-Jo Brion of the University of Bristol tells “Babies exposed to smoke (in the womb) may be prone to rule breaking, such as lying, cheating, bullying, and disobedience in later years” and adds “To some extent it is somewhat surprising that … maternal smoking may also directly impact child behaviors from exposing the fetus to tobacco in utero.” The other study suggests that smoking around expecting mothers (even when the mother herself is not smoking) also affects the child: higher childhood weight appears to be clearly correlated with paternal smoking. “To protect their children, fathers should avoid smoking from conception onward,” says Dr. Mary Schooling of the University of Hong Kong. Furthermore, smoking mothers should not be too surprised to see their children “disobey” when they tell them not to smoke.

3- Exposure to certain wavelengths of light resets the body clock

Original Article: Gooley, J.J. et al., Science Translational Medicine 2, 31ra33 (2010).

With the introduction of high-tech gadgets into our lives, our daily functions have changed drastically. As opposed to old-fashioned bed-time reading of an “actual” book made of paper, we fiddle with our iphones or ipads or notebooks or channel surf on our bedside TVs before going to sleep. A recent study revealed that exposure to certain wavelengths of light, such as those from laptops or TVs, would negatively influence our circadian rhythms (daily rhythmic activity cycle) by resetting our body clocks (e.g., keeping us awake when we should be sleeping). The feeling of sleepiness at night time is triggered by the secretion of a hormone called melatonin. It had been known that exposure of blue light to the eye’s photoreceptor system located in the ganglion cells suppresses the melatonin secretion, therefore stimulating alertness. In their recent work, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital showed that green light exposure of a different cell population on the eyes – cone cells – also resets the body clock by suppressing melatonin secretion. The senior author of the paper, Dr. Steven Lockley, said in an interview that “we need to think about the entire spectrum of light when designing light therapy or lightning designs to boost alertness or induce sleepiness.” The moral of the story is to be more vigilant about our interaction with fancy electronic gadgets at night if we want to have a healthy and relaxing sleep.

4- Poor teachers may impede good students

Original Articles: Taylor, J. et al., Science 328, 512 (2010).

Scholars know that educational environment, including both tasks and the social environment of a classroom, affects children’s achievement just as much as genetic factors. But the teacher plays a main role, because the quality of the educational environment depends on teachers’ performances. A new study underlined the importance of qualified teachers and how they can make a difference in education. The researchers examined the influence of teacher quality by studying 280 identical and 526 fraternal twin pairs in the first and second grades in different Florida schools representing a diverse environment. Identical twins share 100 percent of their genes and fraternal twins share half, and some of the twins were taught by the same teacher but some were in different classes. The researchers used an Oral Reading Fluency test which is based on how many words in a paragraph a child can accurately read in a minute in order to assess the reading skills of children. The researchers recorded the reading scores of students in the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester, and they followed the students’ improvements during the year. To measure teacher quality, they used the scores of twins’ classmates. By studying twins’ groups, researchers were able to eliminate some other factors such as genetics and socio-economic conditions. According to the findings, the teachers played a role in “moderating” students’ achievements, and they helped the students to grow to their full potential. When teacher quality is very low, genetic variance is constricted, whereas, when teacher quality is very high, genetic variance blooms. As the study’s lead author, Jeanette Taylor, said “Better teachers provide an environment that allows children to reach their potential.”

Original Article: Lewis, G.D. et al., Science Translational Medicine 2, 33 (2010).

Visits to biochemistry labs are frequent in our lives. Often we give blood to know levels of different metabolites, such as glucose or cholesterol. Instead of looking at a handful of metabolites, a group of scientists from Harvard Medical School has screened more than 200 metabolites before and after exercise. Interestingly, the levels of 21 of these metabolites changed significantly following exercise. The study also showed significant differences between physically more fit and less fit individuals after exercise. Following exercise, more fit people had greater increases in the biological markers of fat-burning and had decreased oxidative stress -a state where the balance between oxidants and antioxidants shift towards damaging oxidant side. Hence, fit people can get better results following exercise by efficiently removing waste materials. Moreover, exercise increased the levels of “niacinamide”, a compound which modulates insulin sensitivity. This increase was more prominent in leaner individuals and was maximized in fast marathon runners after exercise. It has been long known that obese and less-active individuals had greater tendencies to develop Type II diabetes where insulin action is impaired due to decreased sensitivity of the body to this molecule. Understanding the biochemistry behind the exercise may lead to identification of small molecules mediating its beneficial effects. These molecules may then be used to boost up metabolism or treat diseases. Until then, it is best to exercise and stay fit.

2- Our scents make us targets

Original Article: Carey, A.F. et al., Nature 464, 66 (2010).

Are you avoiding spending time outdoors in summer evenings because most of your time has to be spent chasing away the unwelcomed attention of mosquitoes? If so, then you must be one of those “lucky” people whose perspiration contains a key chemical that makes you irresistible to the six-legged bug. Scientists at Yale University have identified a key chemical compound that is detected by one of the mosquitoes’ 27 smell-receptors in their antenna. These smell-receptors are tuned to detect the key chemicals from hundreds of meters away which make people who secrete large amounts of these key chemicals in their sweat vulnerable to frequent mosquito attacks. Depending on the species, usually only the female mosquitoes bite humans, mainly on their feet or lower legs. More importantly, mosquitoes carry several deadly diseases such as Malaria and West-Nile dengue fever. In fact, Malaria is one of the deadliest and the most neglected diseases, affecting more than 500 million people and killing more than 3 million every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Sadly, the majority of deaths occur among children. Therefore, these types of studies, far from being trivial, may in fact lead to a better understanding of those mosquito-borne diseases, and hopefully may lead to the production of more effective drugs both for the prevention and the cure of diseases as well as better mosquito repellents and traps.

3- We are not alone in our body: Genomes of microbes living with us

Original Articles: Qin, J. et al., Nature 464, 59 (2010) & The Human Microbiome Jumpstart Reference Strains Consortium, Science 328, 994 (2010).

New advancements in DNA sequencing technology allow scientists to sequence genomes of microorganism living in their natural habitat. Human body contains roughly ten times as many microbes as human cells. As part of Human Microbiome Project, scientists are decoding the DNA sequences of all microbes living in several parts of our body such as skin, mouth, gut, respiratory tract and urogenital tract. Two independent teams from US and Europe have produced the first results of DNA sequences of microbes living with us. The projects have initially focused on bacterial genomes but intent to sequence viral and fungal genomes as well. The US team has generated a set of 178 bacterial reference genomes and is aiming to generate many more. In the second project funded by European Union, scientists sequenced the entire microbial DNA in the gut instead of sequencing them individually. They have sequenced more than 3 million bacterial genes, nearly 150 times more than our own (humans have only ~20 thousand genes). Importantly they have found that bacterial species are different in healthy individuals compared to the individuals with inflammatory bowel disease. Throughout these projects, scientists are trying to reveal significant information about the role of different microbial species in health and disease states.

4- Seeing with the sound

Original Article: Yovel Y et al., Science 327, 701 (2010).

Bats, dolphins, shrews and swiftlets use sound waves for navigation and hunting. They emit short sonar pulses and listen to the echoes reflecting back from solid objects. Microsecond differences in the arrival times of echoes are coded by detector neurons and used as a main cue for positioning objects in an environment. This phenomenon is known as biosonar. A recent study published in Science reveals one unknown part of this perfect sound processing strategy. The study shows that bats do not center the sonar beam on the target. Instead, they aim to match the maximum slope of the beam to the target in order to increase the signal-to- noise ratio. Around the sharp edge, small variations of the target position can be detected as a clear signal change in reflected sound intensity. Furthermore, the researchers showed that if the environment is very noisy, bats could bias this critical point to increase amplitude of the echoes. As it turns, this powerful technique has already been employed by humans in engineering and used in various technological tools such as atomic force microcopy. Whether this strategy is used in general by other echolocating animals remains to be answered.

Original Article: Gibson, D.G. et al., Science Express (2010).

A team of genome researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in the U.S recently announced that after almost 15 years of work and with a budget of $40 million, they had finally built the first bacterial strain with a completely synthetic genome. In the study, researchers chopped the genome of Mycoplasma mycodies into 1,000 pieces in the computer, chemically synthesized these fragments and assembled them into an artificial chromosome in yeast cells. The reconstructed artificial genome was subsequently transferred to a closely related bacterium Mycoplasma capricolum, whose genome was removed. Remarkably, the strain with the artificial genome was able to guide the protein machinery of the host cells, produce the necessary enzymes and macromolecules for a bacterium to survive and most importantly to grow and divide. Team leader Prof. J. Craig Venter, best known for his pioneering efforts in human genome mapping project, commented on their findings as “we created a ‘synthetic cell’ and it is the first self-replicating species we’ve had on the planet whose parent is computer.” Many media sources also publicized the study as the first successful creation of the artificial life. As much as the scientific community agreed that the synthesis, transfer and retention of a functional synthetic genome is a breakthrough, most of the scientists have found Prof. Venter’s comments and the media’s reflection on the study to be somewhat of an overstatement. It would be quite unfair to call the new bacteria an example of “artificial life.” The synthesized genome was a copy of another living bacterium with slight modifications. The genome is a blueprint, whereas the proteins perform the actual cellular functions. This new approach shows that we can copy the book of cellular blueprints reliably but it brings no new parts to our inventory. Moreover, the synthetic genome had to be assembled in live yeast cells, processed with biochemical extracts from mycoplasma cells and finally transplanted into another (closely related) live cell. In other words, “natural life” was absolute prerequisite for the so-called “artificial life.” The generation of a fully functioning organism directed by machine-synthesized genome certainly represents a major step in our ability to manipulate large chunks of genetic material. It is clear that this study will positively influence many scientists, especially synthetic biologists, to try writing novel “synthetic” software to recruit the variety of organisms’ cellular hardware for solving various global problems like energy shortage or environmental pollution. However, the philosophical questions that probe the essence of life, like: “Can we reduce life to material? Is the human being ever going to be able to build a live cell from only a few chemicals?” will likely remain as major controversial issues for many years in the age of molecular biology.

2- Sharing the powers of Spiderman

Original Article: Vogel, M.J. & Steen, P.H., PNAS (published online before print on February 4, 2010).

The adhesive powers of Spiderman, jumping from one building to another and walking on the walls, attracted most of our interests. The recent invention of scientists from Cornell University brings this power from science fiction cartoons/movies to the real life. Inspired from a little creature, leaf beetle, which can stick to leaves by generating a force exceeding 100 times its body weight, these researchers designed a device which can stick to surfaces by using the adhesive powers of water. The device consists of a plate not thicker than a credit card with hundreds of tiny holes on it. The water is pumped through these holes, which builds liquid bridges between surfaces and thus generates a strong adhesive force. Simply pushing back the water un-sticks the device in a controllable and switchable manner. There are no solid moving parts nor any kinds of glue used in the system, and this makes device even more promising. The capabilities of the device are not at the level of the leaf beetle yet, but the inventors believe that it can be improved by building on the same principles. The system can potentially be used in many practical applications, such as robotics, and it can also be implemented into shoes and gloves allowing them to stick to surfaces. Accordingly, it is no longer improbable to imagine sharing the sticky-powers of Spiderman and walking on the walls very soon.

3- Igniting a Supernova

Original Article: Gilfanov, M. & Bogdan, A., Nature 463, 924 (2010).

upernova: the Rosetta stone that may help us put together the missing pieces of the cosmic jigsaw puzzle; one of the most energetic and most luminous explosions in the universe, putting out energies equivalent to what our sun could produce in 10 billion years. Yet the mechanism that produces these explosions still eludes us. Once our sun consumes its remaining fuel in another 5 billion years, it will shrink into a “white dwarf.” These compact stars are believed to produce subsequent explosions leading to supernovas if they reach beyond a critical limit of mass. One way to gain mass is to steal material from a companion star through an “accretion” process. Accretion was thought to be the most common means that might help push the mass of a white dwarf beyond the critical mass limit, until a recent study revealed that two clashing (in-spiraling) white dwarfs might be the missing fuse that ignites supernovas. German astronomers measured the X-ray flux of four nearby elliptical galaxies and the core of the Andromeda Galaxy to see whether the amount of X-rays from these galaxies are consistent with predictions based upon the accretion mechanism. Contrary to expectations, the observed X-rays were 2–3% of the amount that would have been produced if accreting white dwarfs were the primary trigger of supernova explosions. Hence, perhaps merging white dwarfs are more commonplace in the cosmos after all.

4- Strategy of bats finding their way

Original Article: Yovel Y et al., Science 327, 701 (2010).

Bats, dolphins, shrews and swiftlets use sound waves for navigation and hunting. They emit short sonar pulses and listen to the echoes reflecting back from solid objects. Microsecond differences in the arrival times of echoes are coded by detector neurons and used as a main cue for positioning objects in an environment. This phenomenon is known as biosonar. A recent study published in Science reveals one unknown part of this perfect sound processing strategy. The study shows that bats do not center the sonar beam on the target. Instead, they aim to match the maximum slope of the beam to the target in order to increase the signal-to- noise ratio. Around the sharp edge, small variations of the target position can be detected as a clear signal change in reflected sound intensity. Furthermore, the researchers showed that if the environment is very noisy, bats could bias this critical point to increase amplitude of the echoes. This powerful technique has already been employed by humans in engineering and used in various technological tools such as atomic force microcopy. Whether this strategy is used in general by other echolocating animals remains to be answered.

Original Article: Wang, M. et al., PNAS (published online before print on March 1, 2010).

Periodic injections of insulin to manage blood sugar levels is critical for the treatment of diabetes patients. It requires continuous monitoring of glucose levels in the blood and multiple injections of insulin in order to mimic the natural balance of sugar-insulin levels in the human body. Yet, it is often difficult to maintain this extremely sensitive hormone balance without major side effects. These complications include blindness, leg ulcers and amputations, heart vessels problems, renal insufficiency, stroke, and nerve damage in the legs and arms. Moreover, the long-term use of insulin causes the increase of body fat and bad cholesterol. A new research study on non-obese diabetic mice shows that adding leptin- a hormone responsible for appetite control- to the insulin therapy results in better control of blood sugar levels and decreases the bad cholesterol and body fat of Type 1 diabetic mice. This is promising, as it could reduce heart and circulatory complications of Type 1 diabetes. However, the leptin therapy may not have an effect on type 2 diabetes, adult type, because in this type patients already have high levels of leptin. However, it has to be shown that leptin therapy is safe and effective on humans as well. There is a long way to go before we can use leptin in practical areas.

2- Re-teaching speech with music

Original Source: Schlaug G, Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), San Diego (2010).

Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. are faced with strokes each year, and a quarter of those are affected by aphasia, a deficit in language. Using a new melodic intonation therapy, therapists treat patients by teaching them how to sing words and phrases consistent with the underlying melody of speech. As a result, the patients continue to speak in a more “sing-songy” way than a person with normal speech patterns, according to Dr. Schlaug, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. After 15 weeks, 1.5 hour-long daily sessions with a therapist, the patients gradually learn to piece the sung words together into organized speech. There are two separate brain networks associated with vocal output, with the one in the left hemisphere being engaged with speech and the other one in the right hemisphere strongly responding to music and melody. For the stroke patients that had damage to the left hemisphere, this therapy may help to train similar areas on the right hemisphere, helping them to initiate a speech region in the right hemisphere. Singing facilitates necessary engagement to the right hemisphere. Images of patients’ brains before and after the therapy reveal striking structural and functional changes in the right hemisphere. This study also reminds us of the brilliance of musical therapies employed in early hospitals in the Islamic world.

3- Renewable Jet-Fuels

Original Article: Bond, J.Q. et al., Science 327, 1110 (2010).

The global need for sustainable energy resources is ever increasing and the use of renewable fuels offer promising solutions. Among others, biofuels are especially important due to the presence of direct conversion routes from plant-based waste materials to conventional liquid fuels. However, high synthesis costs and complex processing steps are major hurdles to overcome before putting biofuels forward as economically viable alternatives to fossil fuels. Researchers are therefore trying to come up with more efficient methods -and one group, from the University of Wisconsin appears to have done so. Unlike commonly utilized routes involving microorganisms, they use a novel and environmentally-friendly chemical process which is easier to control and maintain. By using an inexpensive catalyst, they convert the majority of the wasted biomass to gaseous butene and carbon dioxide, with a water-based solution of gamma valerolactone as the intermediate chemical. The butene gas is then easily transformed to high-energy transportation fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel. As an added advantage, the stream of carbon dioxide can be efficiently captured, preventing the atmospheric release of this major greenhouse gas. Under optimized conditions, the system can operate uninterrupted for 90 hours with an overall efficiency of over 75%. Successful work like this will help make biofuels cheaper for mass production, pending the meticulous analysis of its economics.

4- Salt controversy: How much is too much?

Original Article: Bibbins-Domingo, K. et al., NEJM 362, 590 (2010).

Modern humans suffer from high rates of obesity (for instance, 64% of Americans are classified as either overweight or obese) and cardiovascular diseases, with the latter being the no.1 cause of all deaths. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco suggests that reducing dietary salt by half a teaspoon a day (~ 3g) would lower the annual number of new coronary heart disease, stroke and myocardial infarction cases. Strikingly, such a modest decrease is expected to decrease deaths from any cause by 44,000 to 92,000. According to the National Salt Reduction Initiative, Americans eat at least twice as much salt as they need where 80 percent of the salt in the American diet comes from processed or restaurant-prepared foods. However, eating too much salt is not a problem for people with healthy kidneys since kidneys are designed to flush out unneeded salt. However, when people have a high salt diet, then their kidneys are over-worked. Taking into account that modest salt reduction in one’s diet won’t likely cause harm and taste buds will likely adapt to this minor change effortlessly, it seems wise to refrain from using too much salt. This would trigger bigger health benefits ranging from not overworking the kidneys to reducing the risk of deadly diseases.

5- Why don’t we get thirsty during sleep?

Original Article: Trudel, E. & Bourque, C.W., Nature Neuroscience (published online before print on February 28, 2010).

In mammals, the “internal-standard-time” is kept by a particular subset of brain cells known as “clock-neurons” which display high activity during the day and low activity during the night. A group of scientists recently reported that the clock-neurons also function as a dimmer for water regulation, allowing bodily water content to be controlled by the body. A specialized group of cells, called osmo-sensory-neurons, detect and regulate water levels in the body, through balancing the water intake via thirst and loss via urine production. When water levels are low, the sensory-neurons communicate with some hormone-releasing cells which instruct the body to store water by ceasing urine production. By using isolated brain slices from rats, the researchers showed that the clock-neurons – when active – interfere with the communication between sensory-neurons and hormone-releasing-cells to suppress the water-storage-hormone release. In contrast, when the clock-cells are inactive (i.e., ‘sleep period’) the communication is restored, resulting in an increase of hormone levels to enable water-storage. Such regulation is the reason why we are not much disturbed during sleep by neither frequent trips to the bathroom, nor excessive thirst (that would both impair the sleep quality), and reminds us the verse from the Holy Qur’an: “..and He has made the night for rest…” (Chapter Al-Anaam, 96).

6- A passage to vegetative state through fMRI

Original Article: Monti MM et al., NEJM 362, 579 (2010).

Consciousness in medicine is defined as the patient’s alertness and responsiveness to the outside world. If a patient does not respond to external stimuli, his/her medical state is considered a “vegetative state”. Researchers from Cambridge, England performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments on 54 patients who had been previously classified as either “vegetative” or “minimally conscious”. Interestingly, 5 of 54 patients exhibited distinct neuronal activities in the corresponding regions of their brains, when they are given imaginary motor and spatial tasks. For the motor task, patients are asked to imagine playing a tennis game. For the spatial task, patients are asked to imagine navigating through a familiar location. A 22 year-old man who had been in coma for five months was further evaluated by being subjected to a simple set of yes-or-no questions such as “Do you have any brothers?” and was instructed to answer these questions using one type of mental imagery, that is a motor imagery for “Yes” and a spatial imagery for “No”. He answered 5 out of 6 questions correctly. This is the first evidence that through fMRI approach one can reach the residual cognitive activity in vegetative patients and establish functional communication, raising question marks about our current handling of these so-called vegetative patients.

Original Article: Lieberman, D.E. et al., Nature 463, 531 (2010).

The modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. However, the presumption that running barefoot is dangerous and causes pain could be wrong. To explain this phenomenon, scientists studied three groups of people in the United States and Kenya: those who had always run barefoot, those who had always worn shoes, and those who had converted to barefoot running from shod running. They found a striking pattern: the three groups positioned their feet differently; while most shod runner people made initial contact with the ground heel-first (rear-foot striking), barefoot runners used their flat feet (mid-foot striking) or the lateral ball of the feet (fore-foot striking) first. Kinematic and kinetic analyses showed that barefoot runners who used the fore-foot or mid-foot strike generated smaller collision forces than the rear-foot strikers with shoes. This means that it is possible to run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without experiencing the slightest discomfort or pain; all one needs is a few calluses to avoid damaging the skin. It is also clear that running-shoe companies and other footwear designers should pay more attention to how God designed our body and redesign more appropriate shoes for running.

The Molecule with a Thousand Faces

Original Article: Ehre D. et al., Science 327, 672 (2010).

Water freezes at 0 C… or perhaps not? Pure water can remain in liquid form at temperatures down to –40 C, which is known as a “supercooled” state. When agitated by stirring or adding impurities, supercooled water freezes instantly. A team of scientists report that under certain conditions, supercooled water freezes when warmed up (!). Supercooled water can freeze at a higher temperature on a positively-charged surface than it does on a negatively-charged one. Initially, the surface is negatively charged at a lower temperature. The surface becomes positively charged when warmed up and the supercooled liquid water solidifies. Will the day ever come when we will be able to understand the water molecule completely? This is something we just don’t know. What we know for certain though is that water, which is apparently the “most normal” substance around us, has already proven itself ironically as one of the most unusual ones in nature. We take this familiar molecule for granted within our daily routine, but H2O-or water as we know it-still remains a celebrity in the eyes of scientists.

Cancer-Causing DNA Mutations Are Deciphered

Original Articles: Pleasance, E.D. et al., Nature 463, 184 & 191 (2010).

DNA mutations are changes in the DNA code caused by external or internal agents known as mutagens. Scientists have identified mutations from lung cancer and skin cancer and have compared them to normal samples in order to find the mutations that lead to these cancers. They have identified ~23,000 mutations in lung cancer (small-cell lung cancer) and ~33,000 mutations in skin cancer (melanoma). The researchers revealed that most of these mutations are single-base DNA changes, suggesting that they are a direct cause of the carcinogens in tobacco smoke and UV light. Under normal conditions, our cells are equipped with a “DNA repair mechanism” which detects any changes in the DNA code and repairs it. However, when excess amount of mutations occur due to tobacco smoke in our lungs or to too much exposure to sunlight in our skin cells, the DNA repair mechanism cannot repair all of the mutations. Accumulations of these mutations lead to cancer-a state in which cell division has gone out of control. Scientists have calculated that every 15 cigarette causes one mutation in the DNA. These studies will be immensely useful for understanding the reasons behind the genetic changes in cancer and more importantly they will provide a comprehensive catalogue of mutations that can be used for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Scientists Inspired by the Spider Web

Original Article: Zheng, Y. et al., Nature 463, 640 (2010).

Even though spiders may not be the most appealing creatures living on earth, they are one of the most intriguing predators in the animal kingdom. For centuries the intricate ways that spiders hunt, their (relatively) enormous appetite, their strong senses and extraordinary craftsmanship have been fascinating research topics for scientists. In this study, researchers wondered why and how spider webs become decorated with pearl-like drops of water in humid weather conditions. At nanometric scales, the group revealed that the fibers which constitute the web of Uloborus Walkcenaerius-a non-venomous spider-change conformations after interacting with water. When the web becomes wet the fibers condense into knot-like structures which are distributed evenly along the entire silk. The geometric structure of the web results in surface-energy gradients that drive water particles towards the knots. Concentrating water molecules at the knots may help to keep the rest of the web dry, which is a necessary factor to capture prey. This extraordinary finding has inspired the building of an artificial spider silk, which exploits the same geometric trick, trapping and transporting water droplets. In the near future, such “green” materials could be used in a wide variety of applications, such as filtering substances out of chemical reactions without need for a catalyst.

Self-Sacrificing Mother Yeast Cells

Original Article: Liu, B. et al., Cell 140, 257 (2010).

Humanity has always searched for the fountain of youth. Yet, the process of aging is still a poorly understood concept in biology. How ironic that the budding yeast, a mere single cellular organism, has a fascinating way of keeping its offspring young and healthy. It was previously shown that protein aggregates appear within the cytoplasm of yeast cells as they age. These protein aggregates are thought to be toxic to the cells and thus potential risk factors to both mother and daughter cells. Researchers demonstrated that these aggregates are consistently transported to the mother cell, thereby allowing the daughter cells to make a fresh start to life. Polymerizing actin filaments, which are nucleated from the polarisome in the daughter cell, bind to these aggregates and push them towards the mother cell cytoplasm. In addition to being an amazing biological process, these self-sacrificing mother cells which keep their offspring healthy form a controversial issue. The common understanding in biology is that all organisms struggle for their own survival. However, why a simple organism like yeast prefers to have a healthy daughter cell and to jeopardize its own life is unclear and shows the existence of a mother’s mercy, even at the single-cell level.

Honey Bee Collapses

Original Article: Ratnieks, F.L.W. & Carreck, N.L., Science 327, 152 (2010).

Throughout history an extensive loss of honey bee colonies has occurred in many different locations; however, in North America, particularly after 2006, there has been an increase in the disappearance of adult honey bees from hives, in which they abandon their food and brood; this has been coined a “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). The most likely cause of the syndrome is seen to be the presence of a parasitic mite Varroa destructor. It is not the mite that causes bee death, but rather the number of bee viruses which it carries, such as the Israeli acute paralysis virus; it was previously thought that these were insignificant to honey bee biology. It has also been suggested that CCD is not caused by a previously unknown pathogen, but rather a combination of factors, which only have subtle effects on bee health if considered separately. The health of honeybee colonies is vital for agriculture. In 2000, the total U.S. crop value wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion. The sudden disappearance of honey bees and the complexity of the causes behind CCD remind us of the delicate balance that exists in nature.