A tiny tattoo for a tabby

From Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo 17/01/24 If you’ve ever taken a car trip through a rural area, you might already know that livestock, including cows and sheep, can be individually tracked using decidedly old-fashioned methods, such as ear tags or even branding marks. By contrast, many tech-savvy pet owners have opted […]

Does a brain in a dish have moral rights?

From Cortical Labs 20/09/23 No longer limited to the realm of science fiction, bio-computing is here, so now is the time to start considering how to research and apply this technology responsibly, an international group of experts says. The inventors of DishBrain have partnered with bioethicists and medical researchers to map such a framework to […]

Implanted cells release insulin when they hear music: No-needle diabetes treatment

From ETH Zurich 23/08/23 Diabetes is a condition in which the body produces too little or no insulin. Diabetics thus depend on an external supply of this hormone via injection or pump. Researchers led by Martin Fussenegger from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel want to make the lives […]

Building muscle in the lab

From ETH Zurich 21/08/23 ETH Zurich Professor Ori Bar-​Nur and his team grow muscle cells in the laboratory. In this case, they are mouse cells, but the researchers are also interested in human and cow cells. Promising applications resonate with both: human muscle tissue cultured in the lab could be used in surgery, while human […]

Regenerating tooth enamel moves closer with stem-cell advance

From University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine 17/08/23 Organoids have now been created from stem cells to secrete the proteins that form dental enamel, the substance that protects teeth from damage and decay. A multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the University of Washington in Seattle led this effort. “This is a critical first step […]