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SALT LAKE CITY — Synthetic Intestine— The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles has successfully created the first functional synthetic small intestine, albeit mouse intestine. The tissue-engineered man-made version contains all the layers of cells that a "natural" mouse intestine has. This is a major step forward in engineering tissue that could be used in medical implantation.
Rare earths not rare in sea — Japanese searchers have found huge deposits of rare earth minerals on the floor of the oceans near Tahiti and Hawaii. Rare elements, like neodymium, taken from these minerals are used in many modern technologies, ranging from guitar amplifiers, to cell phones modern experimental weaponry. China has over 97 percent of rare earth reserves, but these findings could throw that hegemony out of balance. In one square mile, there are enough of these metals to supply the planet for almost six months. Nuts and bolts, weevil style — Nature beat humans to the punch inventing the screw, long thought to be a human discovery. The hip joints of certain types of Paupan weevils are based on the screw and nut engineering that is so familiar to home handymen. Other weevils are likely to also have this kind of joint, or something like it, though this is the first appearance of the unique biological structure.
Naked, blind rat may save us all — A blind and not-so-furry little rodent called the naked mole rat — due to almost total lack of hair — may hold the key to pain, cancer treatment and aging. And now it has just had its entire genome sequenced. This is important in allowing research to continue on how it is able to live 30 years — 10 times as long as other mammals its size — avoid disease, and literally feel no pain. There has also never been a single observed case of cancer in the species. The sequencing was conducted by the University of Liverpool, with The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich. China keeps the earth cool with sulphur — Over the last decade, several studies have show that the earth's temperature has been relatively stable, despite more and more greenhouse gasses entering the atmosphere. A team of researchers led by Boston University's Robert Kaufmann now indicate that sulphur particles from Chinese industrial pollution has probably been blocking the rays of the sun. Sulphur aerosols act as a reflector in the atmosphere, and counteract the heat-trapping properties of gasses like carbon dioxide and methane.
E-mail: dnewlin@ksl.com
