Growing Organs through Cell Regeneration

The video below is of a news segment highlighting cell regeneration and the future of growing organs from the body's own cells.

Tree-Climbing Goats

In Morocco, goats have become adept at climbing Argan trees in search of food, which is otherwise sparse in the region.









(articles: 1, 2)

World's tiniest snake found in Barbados

A U.S. scientist has discovered the world's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically stretching less than 4 inches. The snake, which is so small it can curl up on a U.S. quarter, is the smallest of the roughly 3,100 known snake species.

Rare Australian Snubfin Dolphin filmed

A camera crew has filmed a rare breed of dolphin that has only been known to scientists for three years near Broome, Western Australia.

The recent discovery of the Australian snubfin dolphin has led scientists to search the Australian coastline for the elusive animals.

According to the research team, the sighting is the best yet as the dolphins were playful and poked their heads above water. Scientists were also able to record underwater sounds the dolphins made while communicating.

Solar Power Breakthrough

MIT researchers announced that they have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is too expensive and inefficient. Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, the scientists have developed a process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

The key component is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced. Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.

Insects use trapped oxygen to breathe underwater

Hundreds of insect species spend much of their time underwater, where food may be more plentiful. MIT mathematicians have now figured out exactly how those insects breathe underwater.

By virtue of their rough, water-repellent coat, when submerged these insects trap a thin layer of air on their bodies. These bubbles not only serve as a finite oxygen store, but also allow the insects to absorb oxygen from the surrounding water. The insects use this bubble as a kind of external lung.

Thanks to those air bubbles, insects can stay below the surface indefinitely and dive as deep as about 100 feet. Some species, such as Neoplea striola, which are native to New England, hibernate underwater all winter long.

The air bubble's stability is maintained by hairs on the insects' abdomen, which help repel water from the surface. The hairs, along with a waxy surface coating, prevent water from flooding the spiracles--tiny breathing holes on the abdomen.

The spacing of these hairs is critically important: The closer together the hairs, the greater the mechanical stability and the more pressure the bubble can withstand before collapsing. However, mechanical stability comes at a cost. If the hairs are too close together, there is not enough surface area through which to breathe.

Living Fossils

This gallery features many creatures alive today that exist today more or less unevolved from the forms they had hundreds of millions of years ago. Some of the creatures they discuss include the following:

Horseshoe Crab:


Lamprey:


Nautilus:


Okapi:


Platypus:

Rare male Weedy Sea Dragon pregnant

The Georgia Aquarium's attempts to coax rare weedy sea dragons to mate has resulted in success. The pregnant male sea dragon is now only the third of its kind in the United States to successfully become pregnant outside of its natural habitat.

The sea dragon, found in nature only in the waters off southern Australia, became pregnant when a female transferred her eggs onto his tail. Male sea horses, sea dragons and pipe fish all carry the eggs instead of the female.

But so much is unknown about the creatures that a lot about the pregnancy remains a mystery. When the animals finally do mate, the sea dragons arch their tails and swim side by side until they latch onto each other before swimming vertically together during their version of a "date."

Of the 70 small pink eggs wrapped around the male's tail, nobody knows how many are viable and could actually hatch. Scientists are relying on other experiences with breeding, where about 60 percent of the eggs survived, to estimate how things may go. The eggs are expected to hatch in four to six weeks.

2000 year-old seed germinated

Three years ago, a team of researchers took an ancient date seed collected from one of King Herod's palaces and planted it in a small pot. It sprouted, and Methuselah, as they dubbed the sapling, is now 5 feet high.

Radiocarbon dating shows the seed was 2,000 years old, by far the oldest ever to have germinated, as reported in the journal Science. The researchers say they hope the plant will help resurrect a long-extinct species known in biblical times for the sweetness of its fruit.

It is also special because of where it was found: Masada, a mountaintop fortress overlooking the Dead Sea, is where Jewish forces made their last stand against Roman troops after the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70.

A number of seeds were collected in the early 1960s by archaeologists excavating the fortress. They stored the seeds at room temperature for nearly four decades. They didn't just plop the seeds into a pot. Instead, they bathed three seeds in fertilizer and enzyme-rich solutions before they were planted. Two of them came up. The plant appears normal, although some of its early leaves had white patches on them. It won't be known whether it will bear fruit until about 2010.

The date palm was domesticated more than 5,000 years ago, and the Judean Dead Sea region was famous for its high-quality fruit. Ancient texts describe how the dates were used to treat tuberculosis, heart problems, worms and infections.

Huge Snail