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White matter fiber tracts in the adult human brain

New Stem Cell Treatment for MS is a 'Game-Changer'

<div class="related"></div>
<p>
 A treatment involving a combination of chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation has kept 49 of 52 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in remission for three years.
</p>
<p>
 The exact cause of MS is unclear; genetic and environmental determinants are hazy, and yet more than 2.3 million people are afflicted by MS worldwide, and women are twice as likely to develop MS than men in their lifetime, according to the
 <a href="https://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/MS-FAQ-s">
  National MS Society
 </a>
 .
</p>
<p>
 The name “multiple sclerosis” refers to lesions that develop on the brain and spinal cord of patients. These lesions occur when myelin, a white, fatty coating that insulates the body’s nerves, is mistakenly labeled as a foreign invader, attacked, and stripped from the nervous system by the immune system. Without insulation, neurons lose their important ability to conduct electrical signals, resulting in trouble with sensation, blindness, muscle weakness, and loss of coordination.
</p>
<p>
 Although the exact trigger for MS is poorly understood, researchers have noticed that once an MS patient’s immune cells mistakenly target myelin, the old immune cells influence new immune cells to perpetuate the disease-causing mistake.
</p>
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<p>
 This new treatment attempts to reset the immune system’s mistake, by interrupting the line of communication between old (defective) and young (naïve) immune cells.
</p>
<p>
 First, immune system stem cells are removed from the MS patient’s bone marrow. With young immune cells set aside for safe-keeping, the patient then undergoes extensive chemotherapy to destroy their old immune cells—including the ones spawning MS inflammation. Once the previous immune system is destroyed, the body is repopulated with the young immune cells that had been set aside at the beginning of the procedure. Since the immature cells seem to represent the patient’s immune system before MS-related mistakes were triggered, the end result is akin to an immune-system reset.
</p>
<p>
 The process is not trivial—chemotherapy itself is a taxing process, and because the immune system is virtually decimated, patients must endure weeks in isolation to avoid illness. However, once the immune system is reset, myelin insulation finally has time to regenerate (via special cells called oligodendrocytes), and the body can recover.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Image credit: Zeynep Saygin
</p>

<p>The treatment, involving a combination of chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation, has kept 49 of 52 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in remission for three years.</p>

Similar to herd-immunity for vaccinations, scientists propose that GMO crops act as a pest-absorbing sink.

GMO Crops Have an Unintended Side-Effect: Protecting Non-GMOs

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<p>
 GMOs have a
 <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/10/18/163034053/top-five-myths-of-genetically-modified-seeds-busted">
  bad reputation
 </a>
 , but 20 years after they were first planted in farm fields, they are having an unintended side effect: helping non-GMO crops.
</p>
<p>
 Many genetically modified organisms were engineered with insect-killing proteins to eliminate or reduce the use of pesticides. The most widely used insect-killing protein comes from a microbe called Bacillus thuringiensis (often abbreviated “Bt”), and the hazards associated with seem largely
 <a href="http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-technology/faq-genetically-modified-food/en/">
  limited to insects
 </a>
 . Since the first Bt crop was planted in 1996, GMOs have been immune to the corn borer and earworm pests-nicknamed the “scourges of corn.”
</p>
<p>
 To prevent Bt-resistance in these pests and to confine GMO genes to their intended crops, the EPA mandates farmers plant non-GMO plants around the periphery of GMO fields- a moat of sorts.
</p>
<div class="ad"></div>
<p>
 But the corn in those moats are also receiving the benefit of genetic modification, even if the plants themselves aren’t altered. In a new study, which examined the landscapes of pests radiating from GMO crops, researchers found that GMO crops are enabling non-GMOs to flourish with fewer pesticides. New Jersey’s non-GMO green beans and peppers crops, for example, reduced pesticide use by 85% since GMOs were introduced.
</p>
<p>
 Similar to herd-immunity for vaccinations, scientists propose that GMO crops act as a pest-absorbing sink. With the number of pests dialed down, farmers can spray fewer pesticides onto non-GMO foods. This unprecedented finding translates into fewer pesticides in the environment-and unlike GMOs, pesticides have well-known
 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947579/pdf/fpubh-04-00148.pdf">
  health and environmental hazards
 </a>
 .
</p>
<p>
 Farmers can apply this knowledge to maximize the benefits. For example, farmers could plant other vegetables in close proximity to Bt corn, reducing the need for pesticide applications. Other pest-prone produce, such as potatoes, could also be spared spoilage by being planted in close proximity to GMOs.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
  

  
      Photo credit: public domain

<p>In a new study, which examined the landscapes of pests radiating from GMO crops, researchers found that GMO crops are enabling non-GMOs to flourish with fewer pesticides.</p>

With people living longer than ever, can science give us a means to defy age, and keep our neurons and dendrites in good shape?

Single Gene May Dramatically Reverse Age-Related Mental Decline

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<p>
 Our brains are marvelous memory machines. Repeated use of a specific brain circuit—reminiscing about your favorite pet, solving puzzles, or practicing the violin—encourages new circuits to stay with us for life. When we neglect to engage them, our circuits—and encoded memories—can wither into oblivion (reinforcing the old adage, “use it or lose it”).
</p>
<p>
 And yet, even when we take strides to keep our minds sharp, we don’t always have a say in the matter. As we age, our mental capacity to learn and retain information is
 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6218.pdf">
  at risk
 </a>
 to deteriorate rapidly with age.
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015335/pdf/nihms569964.pdf">
  Age-related mental decline
 </a>
 doesn’t interfere with a person’s daily life to the extent of dementia, but it does compromise social interactions and can turn once-trivial mental tasks into unexpected bouts of frustration.
</p>
<p>
 With people living longer than ever, can science give us a means to defy age, and keep our minds intact?
</p>
<p>
 To do this, we need to understand our brains and how age augments them. In extreme cases, such as Alzheimer’s, cell by-products physically accumulate and clog neural pathways, creating a blockade in normal circuits. However, normal brain-aging changes are much more nuanced—several years ago, Phillip Landfield and his group of researchers at the University of Kentucky noticed old brain cells retain unusually high levels of calcium—one of several key ions in brain circuits.
</p>
<p>
 Taking a closer look, the scientists discovered a coinciding deficiency: a protein called FPBP1b was drastically low when compared with youthful brains.
</p>
<p>
 Attempting to reverse these age-related deficits,
 <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2017/12/18/JNEUROSCI.2234-17.2017">
  Landfield
 </a>
 and his group injected elderly mice with a virus engineered for cranking-up FKBP1b protein levels in their brains. These mice were then challenged with a memory-intensive exercise: navigating a water maze and learning where a hidden platform exists.
</p>
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<p>
 Much to their surprise, the mice not only outperformed their age-matched counterparts, but their neurons had drastically reverted back to more youthful characteristics. Examining the brain cells at a molecular level, some 800 genes unexpectedly began reverting back to “young brain” levels. With so many punctuated changes arising from a single protein, FKBP1b (and calcium levels it controls) is much more relevant to mental aging than previously thought.
</p>
<p>
 Many of the augmented genes were tied to important brain cells activities, such as rewiring connections and transmitting electrical signals. However, inflammation signatures were unchanged throughout the regenerative process, prompting scientists to pause and question how much inflammation impacts aging (currently a hot topic in the realm of brain research).
</p>
<p>
 Obviously, much more work is required to develop a medicinal equivalent to the “fountain of youth,” but this study is an encouraging first-step. It opens the door for understanding how certain key proteins, such as FKBP1b, keep our minds sharp as we venture into retirement.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Photo credit: Public Domain
</p>

<p>With people living longer than ever, can science give us a means to defy age, and keep our minds intact?</p>

The telescope would reconstruct a picture of the planet, pixel by pixel.

Scientists Want to Turn the Sun Into Massive Lens for a Telescope

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<p>
</p>
<p>
 Although manned space exploration to distant worlds is figuratively light-years away, our ability to glance across the heavens could be revolutionized with a technology that’s been right in front of our noses: the Sun.
</p>
<p>
 Current technology has given us
 <a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html">
  breathtaking
 </a>
 imagery, but to detect what’s hiding in deep space, telescopes are very limited—often resolving “tiny fuzzy dots” representing exoplanets larger than Jupiter. To obtain high-quality images of exoplanets quickly, astronomers are hoping to use the Sun as a colossal telescopic lens.
</p>
<p>
 The idea of this telescope, officially termed a “solar gravitational lens,” has been floating around for
 <a href="https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2006/08/18/the-focal-mission-to-the-suns-gravity-lens/">
  years
 </a>
 , but
 <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.08421.pdf">
  a recent study
 </a>
 has breathed new life into the subject. Using up-to-date modeling, a group of researchers thoroughly evaluated the feasibility of a solar telescope, modeling the Sun’s gravitational waves and demonstrating a proof-of-concept image of Earth (above). If their predictions are accurate, we may soon have the resolution to see distant planetary surfaces, greatly improving our potential to detect exoplanetary life.
</p>
<p>
 Whether in a celestial telescope or your eye, all lenses perform a crucial, fundamental task: concentrate light from distant surroundings onto a small focal point. As the scientists illustrated in
 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjaj-Ig9jBs&amp;feature=youtu.be">
  this video
 </a>
 , the gravitational field of our sun doesn’t quite behave like a conventional lens. In addition to focusing light, the sun also gives off a tremendous amount of light, and could drown out important telescope information. To counteract this, scientist propose outfitting the scope with a carefully measured filter, blocking out the brightest parts of the sun to give distant exoplanet light a chance to be detected, concentrated, and ultimately focused.
</p>
<div class="ad"></div>
<p>
 Light isn’t the only problem: the sun’s gravity also bends and warps light around it, forming what scientists call an “Einstein ring,” named after the famed scientist who popularized the gravitational lens effect. The Einstein ring contains all the image information, and requires quite a bit of math to morph information back into a representative picture. However, by accumulating a series of Einstein ring-derived pixels, you could assemble them into a 1000×1000 pixel image. The resultant image would be unprecedented—what might be seen from a spaceship.
</p>
<p>
 The study is giving this idea traction, but to work, the solar gravitational lens telescope requires a probe to travel a minimum of 550 astronomical units. That’s 600 times the distance of earth to the sun—further than any probes in existence. However, with technologies like
 <a href="https://www.space.com/31063-electric-sail-solar-wind-space-exploration.html">
  e-sails
 </a>
 , which harness solar wind to travel nearly 20 astronomical units per year, a functional solar scope seems
 <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2016/08/31/race-to-proxima-centauri/#.WqLp3JPwbgF">
  within
 </a>
 the grasp of our lifetime.
</p>
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<p>
 Image credit: DeLuca/Turyshev et al
</p>

<p>Current technology has given us breathtaking imagery, but to detect what’s hiding in deep space, telescopes are very limited.</p>

Thrombin (purple) is exposed after the DNA origami (grey) contacts cancer, promoting blood clots in vessels that feed tumors.

DNA Origamists Folded These Nanobots to Snuff Out Cancer

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<p>
 A few months back, bioengineers created the world’s tiniest rendition of the
 <a href="http://www.caltech.edu/news/worlds-smallest-mona-lisa-80563">
  Mona Lisa
 </a>
 using DNA origami. Now, building off of
 <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6070/831">
  prototypes
 </a>
 , Chinese and American scientists are
 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4071.epdf?referrer_access_token=2zSa8gQKzkLv5BuPKFR_TdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OFff8tYUk11oL1uI0KAIPb_28TGdYmortR12cel7viK7EyWTJqhhsP-1VpD5qhdw9H2yMk2ctHkOdPR40ghJT4swheYEuNVUkZ0Yb9NzSwd4XONJCYqgPBHWkuE-up2WWtom7el7S">
  using the technology
 </a>
 to snuff-out cancer with microscopic precision.
</p>
<p>
 If cancer is a criminal, blood vessels are its accomplice. Not only do they feed and nurture cancer, promoting its survival, but they also help shuttle cancer cells to rest of the body, sowing the seeds of metastasis. Scientists can identify these accomplices through a protein structure called
 <a href="http://www.eurekaselect.com/118117/article">
  nucleolin
 </a>
 ; it’s built right into the walls of blood vessels that feed cancer, and also attracts a specific DNA sequence, making it easy to target.
</p>
<p>
 The DNA-origamists coded the cancer-targeting DNA into a DNA nanobot and armed it with a weapon familiar to anyone who’s ever scraped their knee—thrombin. Thrombin is a blood clotting catalyst which stops our wounds from bleeding. It does so by triggering the formation of blood-capturing nets, and for years, doctors have spritzed it onto surgical sites to limit blood-loss.
</p>
<p>
 In theory, this reliable coagulant could cut-off cancer’s resources, but injecting thrombin itself into the circulatory system is deadly—too many blood clots can lead to strokes, pulmonary embolisms, and more. To make thrombin an effective cancer treatment, scientists must conceal it right up until it contacts the cancer.
</p>
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<p>
 So DNA-origamists folded a paper-like mesh of DNA into a neatly shaped tube that wraps around the thrombin like a taquito. The outer surface is coated with cancer-targeting DNA. Once DNA hits the cancer’s blood vessels, the origami quickly inverts itself, revealing the thrombin and sparking a cascade of events that isolates tumors.
</p>
<p>
 Test runs of the treatment in tumor-laden mice have cut off a cancer’s blood supply, stifling tumor growth and effectively starving cancer to death. The nanobots small size makes them ideal for spotting cancer cells that would evade detection by surgeons. And, in theory, it is more specific to tumors than chemotherapy—allowing regenerating non-cancer cells (such as hair) to survive the treatment.
</p>
<p>
 Currently, researchers are still evaluating the safety of this new technology. Considering that some cancers themselves are decorated with the telltale structure nucleolin, the DNA-origami approach seems promising – but nucleolin protein is also present inside non-cancer cells. When healthy cells break open and release their guts into the bloodstream, it’s possible origami nanobots could be triggered, releasing their thrombin and forming clots in otherwise healthy parts of the body. Another important obstacle is removing unwanted nanobots from a patient, if at all. Thus far, the DNA nanobots haven’t raised an immune response in pigs or mice—a potentially problematic outcome—although these experiments followed animal health for a brief five-day period. Surely, time will tell if this new technology is safe enough for human patients – and it may not be long before we see it enter clinical trials.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Image credit: Jason Drees, Arizona State University
</p>

<p>Chinese and American scientists are using DNA origami technology to snuff-out cancer with microscopic precision.</p>

Plant-based nanowood doesn’t cause allergic reactions or irritate lung tissues, unlike some other insulators.

Super-Powered Styrofoam Substitute Could Change How We Insulate Homes

<div class="related"></div>
<p>
 Household insulation comes in many forms. Asbestos was once a cheap wonder-material until it was deemed carcinogenic. Cotton candy-like fiberglass wool is common, but deceptively hazardous, laced with tiny fiberglass shards that can penetrate lungs. And while expandable Styrofoam films aren’t entirely detrimental to our health, they don’t decompose—posing chronic environmental problems down the road.
</p>
<p>
 What we need is an insulation alternative that is effective, non-hazardous, and environmentally friendly. A new material called
 <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/3/eaar3724.full">
  nanowood
 </a>
 seems to fit the bill.
</p>
<p>
 Although its name sounds futuristic, nanowood is completely derived from trees. It is exceedingly flexible, lightweight, and—unlike other insulators—totally sustainable. Because it’s made from trees, it can be commercially produced to fit any shape sculpted from wood. Like paper, thin slices of nanowood can be rolled up without breaking. Moreover, nanowood has super-thermal insulating capacity on par with Styrofoam, making it suitable for applications requiring tightly regulated heat transfer— like energy-efficient buildings, electrical devices, and aerospace applications.
</p>
<div class="ad"></div>
<p>
 To generate this new material, scientists at the University of Maryland used techniques very similar to the techniques used in developing this innovative
 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4KS6NyFo3Y">
  spinach leaf heart
 </a>
 . Sheets of wood were cut along a tree’s plane of growth and treated with reagents that removed cells and stripped away most wood components. The scientists were left with many parallel sheets of plant-sugar scaffold (or nanocellulose), which not only reflect heat, but also dissipate any trace amounts of heat that do manage to penetrate. By combining reflection with deflection, nanowood has low emissivity, which gives it an advantage over Styrofoam in blocking the sun’s thermal radiation. This makes the earth-origin material suitable for applications in outer space.
</p>
<p>
 Since carbon dioxide is the main ingredient of plant sugar, and by extension, decellularized nanowood, this non-toxic, flexible, super-insulating material may seem too good to be true—and with estimated costs of manufacturing at $2.27 per square foot, this dream-product could be market-ready in no time.
</p>
<div class="newsletter"></div>
<p>
 Photo credit: Hua Xie / University of Maryland
</p>

<p>What we need is an insulation alternative that is effective, non-hazardous, and environmentally friendly, and this new material seems to fit the bill.</p>

Criminal Sentencing Algorithm No More Accurate Than Random People on the Internet

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<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
  An “unbiased” computer algorithm used for informing judicial decisions appears to be no better than the assessments of a random group of people, according to
  <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao5580">
   a recent study.
  </a>
  What’s more, the algorithm appears to issue racially biased recommendations.
 </p>
<p>
  COMPAS, the software that many judges use to inform their sentencing decisions, tends to classify black people as higher risk and white people as lower risk, despite not including explicit information about race. In practice, this translates into more lenient rehabilitation suggestions for white defendant and more rigorous programs black defendant of the same recidivism risk.
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://staging.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/130821-f-eb935-051.width-990_rxZvJIM.jpg"/>
<figcaption>A study of 1,000 defendants suggests that an algorithm used by judges in several states may be wrong a third of the time.
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  The results—and the bias—were statistically indistinguishable from judgement calls made by human volunteers randomly selected over the internet.
 </p>
<p>
  Here’s
  <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/random-people-as-good-as-judicial-software-at-predicting-future-arrests/">
   John Timmer
  </a>
  writing at Ars Technica:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   The significance of that discrepancy is still the subject of some debate, but two Dartmouth College researchers have asked a more fundamental question: is the software any good? The answer they came up with is “not especially,” as its performance could be matched by recruiting people on Mechanical Turk or performing a simple analysis that only took two factors into account.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  The racial bias likely creeps into the COMPAS algorithm through data on arrest rates, which in some cities and counties are skewed. Equivalent, the developer of COMPAS, says it relies on 127 different data points when determining rehabilitation programs, but only six when assessing whether an individual is at risk of reoffending.
 </p>
<p>
  The new study builds on an investigation by Pro Publica, which analyzed COMPAS’s performance in Broward County, Florida, between 2013–2014. Researchers at Dartmouth College took data on age, sex, and criminal history for 1,000 defendants and handed it to volunteer “judges” who were recruited over the internet via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service.
 </p>
<p>
  COMPAS was no better than the study’s participants in assessing the risk of a defendant reoffending. The study’s authors compared the recommendations made by COMPAS and the participants with real-world data on reoffenders. In practice, more white people who were predicted not to reoffend did (40.3% humans, 47.9% COMPAS) compared with black people (29.2% humans, 30.9% COMPAS). Moreover, a larger proportion of black criminals were
  <u>
   wrongly
  </u>
  predicted to reoffend (37.1% humans, 40.4% COMPAS) compared with white defendants (27.2% humans, 25.4% COMPAS).
 </p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://staging.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/graph_ciminal_algorithm_white.width-990_KM2rgyN.png"/>
<figcaption>While COMPAS and human judgements were similar, failed judgement calls tended to favor white defendants and disadvantage black defendants. False positives are instances where criminals do not reoffend, but were predicted to. False negatives are instances where criminals were predicted to reform but did not.
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
  The Dartmouth researchers also managed to reproduce the software’s predictions by consulting only 5% of the information the algorithm purportedly considers.
 </p>
<p>
  “The widely used commercial risk assessment software COMPAS is no more accurate or fair than predictions made by people with little or no criminal justice expertise,” write the study’s authors. “A simple linear predictor provided with only two features is nearly equivalent to COMPAS with its 137 features.”
 </p>
</section>
<p>
 Photo credit:
 <a href="http://www.jble.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/844448/">
  Staff Sgt. Nicholas RauReleased / Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Julia Dressel &amp; Hany Farid / Science Advances
 </a>
</p>

Tiffany Dill

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