Amazing Science

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, has completed the genome sequence of a Denisovan, a representative of an Asian group of extinct humans related to Neandertals.

As sequencing source, 10 milligram of a small finger bone fragment that was used, found in the Denisova-Cave in Southern Sibiria.

Two potent human antibodies that can stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the laboratory have been discovered. These antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection. Moreover, the method used to find these antibodies could be applied to isolate therapeutic antibodies for other infectious diseases as well.

Australia’s Tasmanian devil is more beloved now as it faces extinction from an infectious cancer called Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). The devils spread it through fighting and mating. The sore tumors grow so large the animal can no longer eat. As of 2006, it was estimated that the Tasmanian Devil could be extinct between 10 and 20 years, with only aproximately 20,000 to 50,000 left. Since there is no cure, it’s a race to keep healthy ones in captivity as the only means to keep DFTD from spreading. It’s still unnerving because no one wants to see a species become potentially extinct in captivity like the thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) did in 1936.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_facial_tumour_disease

A mutated gene may have a role in a rare condition in which humans walk on all fours, researchers say. But precisely how mutations in this gene might stop people from walking upright remains a matter of debate.

The existence of quadruped humans was first publicized by a 2006 British television documentary about a Turkish family in which several adults walk on all fours. Those with the condition also suffer from mental retardation and poor balance.

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3. Humphrey, N., Mundlos, S. & Türkmen, S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA105, E26 (2008). | Article |
4. Herz, J., Boycott, K. M. & Parboosingh, J. S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA105, E25 (2008). | Article |
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In the future we might not prescribe drugs all the time, we might prescribe apps." Predictions for 2012 include AI, big data, 3D printing, social health networks and other new technologies which will lead to better medical care.

What will the future of medicine bring? Tiny body monitors, large patient databases and the end of illness. Today, we mostly wait for the body to break before we treat it. In the near future, we will be able to monitor and adjust our health in real time with the help of smartphones, wearable gadgets and many other devices.

Last month, a 114-year-old former schoolteacher from Georgia named Besse Cooper became the world's oldest living person. Her predecessor, Brazil's Maria Gomes Valentim, was 114 when she died. So was the oldest living person before her, and the one before her. In fact, eight of the last nine "world's oldest" titleholders were 114 when they achieved the distinction. Here's the morbid part: All but two were still 114 when they passed it on. Those two? They died at 115. Is 115 years the magical limit?

For the first time ever, scientists are using computers and genomic information to predict new uses for existing medicines. “Bringing a new drug to market typically takes about $1 billion, and many years of research and development,” said Rochelle M. Long, Ph.D., who directs the NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network. “If we can find ways to repurpose drugs that are already approved, we could improve treatments and save both time and money.”

"Most mathematicians did not just take up math as a "job"...(most) get more pleasure out of mathematics than almost any other activity. And they often discovered this pleasure when they were young". While most people would agree that "math people" are not like "non-math people", it's not always easy for non-mathematical minds to recognize (and appropriately nurture) mathematical ones.

The former Lucasian professor of mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. He has 12 honorary degrees, a CBE and in 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. Now aged 70, he has long defied and baffled medical experts who predicted he had just months to live in 1963 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

Key points of Dr. Hawking's life:

• Born in Oxford on 8 Jan 1942, brought up in St Albans. Father a research biologist, mother a radical free-thinker
• Labelled a swot at public school, he liked horse riding, rowing, classical music and debating
• A Brief History of Time - the 1988 layman's guide to cosmology - has sold 10 million copies worldwide
• Discovered "Hawking radiation", where black holes leak energy and fade to nothing, and "theory of everything" suggesting universe evolves according to well-defined laws
• Popular ambassador for science, he lent his synthesized voice to various recordings and appeared in BBC comedy Red Dwarf, The Simpsons and Star Trek
• In 2001, he claimed mankind could be wiped out by a genetically engineered "doomsday" virus
• In an interview with the New Scientist ahead of his 70th birthday, he said he spent most of the day thinking about women, who he says are "a complete mystery"