Here's what's been up in the world of scientific research over the past few days, awesome discoveries and all

Apr 14, 2015 05:14 GMT  ·  By
NASA says we'll find alien life long before the end of the century
11 photos
   NASA says we'll find alien life long before the end of the century

Yet another week has gone by, and not that dwelling too much on the past is ever a good idea, but it's time to take a break from our routine to review the absolute best science news and announcements of the last few days. 

We're not ones to play favorites, but once again, it's NASA that landed the top position in this latest round-up. Curious about how this came to happen? Well, go on reading then.

10. World's first cloned camel found to be pregnant

The world's first cloned camel was born about 6 years ago from cells taken from an animal slaughtered back in 2005. Scientists are happy to announce that the cloned camel, named Injaz, is now pregnant and should deliver later this year.

Even cooler, it looks like Injaz conceived naturally. In an interview, specialist Nisar Wani with the Reproductive Biotechnology Center in Nad Al Sheba in Dubai explained that this pregnancy just goes to show that cloned animals are fertile and can reproduce.

Dolly the sheep, the first animal ever cloned by scientists, developed lung cancer and had to be euthanized while still fairly young. Some claim that it was because it was a copy that it got sick. Injaz, however, is perfectly healthy, as is its unborn calf.

9. Plucking hair proposed as a cure for baldness

It might sound counterproductive if not downright insane, but researchers claim that plucking people's hair in a carefully controlled and orderly fashion might actually help cure baldness. They've so far tried this treatment on mice and found it surprisingly effective.

In a series of experiments, scientists plucked the hair off the back of several laboratory mice in a specific pattern. Thus, they removed all the hair they could get their tweezers on over circular areas measuring 3 to 5 millimeters (about 0.11 to 0.19 inches) in diameter.

Rather than be left with bald spots, the rodents grew a whole lot of replacement hair. The specialists behind this investigation suspect that this rather odd treatment for alopecia could also work on people. Still, chances are they will have some trouble finding volunteers to test their theory.

8. DNA recovered from ancient Neanderthal skeleton

As it turns out, Neanderthals might one day make a comeback, all thanks to genetic engineering. That's right, it might be only a matter of time until we get to shake hands with our long gone ancestors.

In a recent paper, scientists detail how, after having collected bone fragments from a Neanderthal skeleton in a cave in Italy, they managed to extract DNA from them. For now, there's been no talk of cloning. Instead, researchers want to use the samples to understand our evolutionary history just a tad better.

The skeleton that provided the DNA samples is known to anthropologists as the Altamura Man. It is estimated to be about 128,000 to 187,000 years old. As shown in the photo in the gallery below, it is embedded in limestone and, therefore, difficult to study.

7. Shamanic brew found effective against depression

The shamanic brew ayahuasca has been used in religious rituals for centuries now. It is made from the leaves of a shrub dubbed Psychotria viridis and the bark of a jungle vine named Banisteriopsis caapi, and serves to induce powerful hallucinations.

As part of a recent research project, several volunteers diagnosed with mild to severe depression were asked to consume a more gentle form of this brew than the one typically used to alter consciousness during religious rituals. The volunteers all responded well to the brew.

Thus, they reported an improvement in their symptoms, and the effects of the brew were still notable weeks after consumption. Although the study was carried out on just six volunteers, specialists argue that ayahuasca should be further investigated as a possible treatment for depression.

6. Building blocks of life identified around nearby star

MWC 480 is a young star located at a distance of about 445 light-years from Earth. It's now surrounded by a massive cloud of gas and dust that astronomers call a protoplanetary disk, and that will one day clump to form planets.

Interestingly, information provided by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array indicates that complex organic molecules count themselves among the debris that is swirling around MWC 480. Complex organic molecules such as methyl cyanide and hydrogen cyanide, to be more precise.

In a report announcing this find, scientists explain that molecules like these two are considered the building blocks of life. This is because they contain the carbon-nitrogen bonds that form the amino acids from which proteins are made.

5. Antibody found effective against AIDS-causing HIV

Studies carried out over the years have shown that, a few years after an individual is infected with HIV, their body produces a potent antibody dubbed 3BNC117. The thing is that, by the time this antibody is naturally produced, the virus has evolved and is no longer affected by it.

To get around this hurdle, a team of researchers grew 3BNC117 in laboratory conditions and injected a high dose of it into the body of several HIV-positive people. This treatment translated into a 300-fold drop in viral load and no severe side effects were documented.

True, it's unlikely that 3BNC117 can rid individuals of HIV all by itself. Still, given the encouraging outcome of these experiments, specialists argue that, in combination with other drugs designed to tackle this virus, it might do the trick.

4. Light made to slow to merely 180 km/h (112 mph)

With the help of glass fibers that had cesium atoms included in their makeup, scientists managed to make light move at just 180 kilometers an hour (112 miles per hour). In case anyone was wondering, the speed of light in vacuum is one of 1,079,251,200 kilometers per hour (670,616,629 miles per hour).

The reason the cesium-coated glass fibers did such a great job slowing down light was that, due to their unique anatomy, light found itself interacting slowly with them and, in doing so, losing its autonomy and speed.

The specialists behind these experiments say that, apart from getting light to move way slower than it usually does, they also tricked it into coming to a standstill. Coolness aside, such experiments are part of ongoing efforts to figure out a way to use light to transmit data.

3. NASA detailed plans to send a probe to the Sun

Scientists at NASA have some seriously ambitious plans for the near future. Apart from sending crews to Mars and finding alien life, they want to send a spacecraft to the Sun and have it map solar winds and the flows of energetic particles moving all around it.

The spacecraft in question is expected to leave Earth sometime in 2018. It will carry a total of 4 scientific instruments, and with the help of Venus' gravity, it will get as close as 3.8 million miles (about 6.1 million kilometers) from the Sun.

When this close to our parent star's surface, the probe will be exposed to temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 1,400 degrees Celsius). To make sure the intense heat doesn't fry it, NASA will equip it with a 4.5-inch-thick (about 11.5 centimeters) carbon-composite shield.

2. The Brontosaurus made a spectacular comeback

The Brontosaurus was first documented as a self-standing genus in the 1870s, when a paleontologist by the name of Othniel Charles Marsh found the skeleton of one such ancient beast and argued that it was unlike the other dinosaurs discovered over the years.

In 1903, however, one other paleontologist reviewed his work and concluded that Othniel Charles Marsh's Brontosaurus was not a distinct genus, but an Apatosaurus. A whole lot of researchers rushed to agree with him and the name Brontosaurus lost its scientific validity.

This week, a team of paleontologists made headlines when they announced that Othniel Charles Marsh was right and that, as shown by fossil evidence, the Brontosaurus really did exist as a unique genus different to Apatosaurus. Yup, this week was when the Brontosaurus made a comeback.

1. NASA promised we would soon find alien life

During a panel discussion held at NASA's headquarters in Washington, DC, chief scientist Ellen Stofan made a fairly startling announcement. Long story short, she said that we would find definite proof of alien life within decades.

“I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.We know where to look. We know how to look. In most cases we have the technology, and we're on a path to implementing it,” her exact words were.

Ellen Stofan didn't mean that we would be hosting interplanetary sports championships with tiny green men as our opponents before the end of the century. What she had in mind was finding alien microbes, bacteria and the like. True, tiny green men would be way cooler, but we'll take what we can get.

This piece of news concludes our latest round-up of the best science news and announcements of the past few days. To keep tabs on what researchers are up to, be sure to keep in touch.

Weekly round-up photo gallery (11 Images)

NASA says we'll find alien life long before the end of the century
World's first cloned camel and its surrogate momPlucking hair in an orderly fashion could treat baldness
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