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The Ravenmaster at the Tower of London whistles a special tune to call the ravens to bed each night. (Image: Colin) via Quite Interesting

A Microbiome Monday question: should I be using hand sanitizer?

As with many health questions, this is a complicated one. Hand sanitizers, along with antibacterial soaps, are incredibly effective at killing microbial populations. However, they are not specialized to target only harmful microbes, so when you use these cleansers, you are also killing many of the beneficial microbes on your hands. In the long run, killing off  benign bacteria in this way can give rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and impair your body’s ability to fend off disease.

There are circumstances where it is appropriate to use hand sanitizer. In hospitals, for instance, the risk for disease transfer is high, and people with compromised or suppressed immune systems abound. This can sometimes make the benefits of hand sanitizer outweigh the negative repercussions. But most of the time, using hand sanitizer provides more cleaning than is actually healthy, and washing with normal soap and water is a much better option.

Read two more Frequently Asked Questions from the exhibition, The Secret World Inside You, now open.

Dinosaur tail trapped in amber sheds light on evolution of feathers

Amber is often prized not just for its golden beauty, but also for the tiny creatures it contains, many of them millions of years old. Now, a chunk of this fossilized tree sap found at a market in Myanmar has turned out to contain a very rare treasure indeed: a slender piece of feathered tail that belonged to a small bipedal dinosaur that lived about 99 million years ago.

“Since Jurassic Park came out, paleontologists have joked about finding dinosaurs in amber, since it would contain so much extra information. And now we have a piece of one,” says Thomas Holtz, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland in College Park who was not involved in the study.

Researchers aren’t using ancient blood from the belly of preserved mosquitos to recreate dinosaurs, as in the movies. But the finding does reveal a feathered dinosaur tail in 3D for the first time, and offers a unique glimpse into the early evolution of feathers. Amber is a uniquely useful fossilizer, notes Michael Engel, a paleontologist and entomologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence who was also not involved in the study. “It preserves things in lifelike fidelity.” Although it’s rare to find larger animals preserved in the sticky flow, researchers have found everything from frogs to lizards to ancient bird wings, likely entombed after death.

(via ScienceAlert (@sciencealert) • Instagram photos and videos)

Regenerating brain tissue brings hope for a new treatment against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Working with animal models, Mexican researchers were able to cross the electroencephalic barrier, introduce a nanogel and achieve the growth of neurons within the gel, which shows that it is possible to promote regeneration of brain tissue.

After six years of research with materials engineering and bioengineering, the first nanogel for neuron growth is at the experimental stage and could be applied as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson in addition to its use during brain scans, like nuclear magnetic resonance or CAT scans, to improve the visibility of the brain.

Dr. Victor Castaño, from the Centre of Applied Physics and Advanced Technology (CFATA) of the National University of Mexico (UNAM) explained that the nanogel is a biocompatible material, functional within the human body that when injected into the brain and through external excitation it allows the spontaneous growth of neurons.

“We wanted to improve and advance the generation of biomaterials for regenerating brain tissue. During the experiments we crossed the electroencephalic barrier that keeps the brain isolated from the body; by crossing it, we were allowed to introduce the nanogel and for it to act without harming the body. We watched how, within the gel, neurons began to grow; this wouldn’t have been possible in any other way.

"Also, with the help of laser tweezers we took two light phases and stimulated the neuron as if we were pulling it and putting it to exercise, this gave us favorable results in increased neuronal tissue,” explained Dr. Castaño, member of the Commission of Biomedical Specialty, from the Engineering Academy of Mexico (AIM).

After laboratory modeling and use of the right materials, the work team composed of researchers from the Institute of Neurobiology at UNAM and the University of Singapore created a small gelatin made with nanoparticles.

“The ability to offer alternatives to diseases that currently don’t have a cure and it being with Mexican technology has great impact and is of great value; however, we must work in a transdisciplinary way to allow scientific and technological advances,” concluded the Mexican researcher.

The Ministry of Health reports that in Mexico more than 500 thousand people suffer from Parkinson’s and 850 thousand from Alzheimer’s, both neurodegenerative diseases that damage brain nerves. (Agencia ID)

This beautiful cat has sectoral heterochromia, where the iris contains two different colours due to a lack or excess of melanin. 😻😻😻 Complete heterochromia occurs when one iris a totally different colour from the other. It’s most prevalent in cats and dogs, but about 1% of the human population has it too. 📷: raoeang/Imgur #cat #instacute #science #sciencealert http://ift.tt/2gMfW5Y